The separation of church and state was first made law in the United States

Evidence

In this remark Jefferson was setting forth with classic terseness an idea that has come to be regarded as essentially American: the separation of Church and State. This idea was not entirely new; it had some precedents in the writings of Spinoza, Locke, and the philosophers of the European Enlightenment. It was in the United States, however, that the principle was first given the force of law and gradually, in the course of two centuries, became a reality. — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 1539

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: America’s founders wrote church-state separation into the Constitution — Katherine Stewart, The Power Worshippers: Inside the…, 1069; Church-state separation historically preceded Jewish civic equality — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans: Interpreting…, 332; Church-state separation is historically unique to the West and drove its freedom. — Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the…, 188 (+4 more)
• yield-rescued: below the book’s yield-target cutoff, included anyway for connecting to: America’s founders wrote church-state separation into the Constitution — Katherine Stewart, The Power Worshippers: Inside the…, 1069; Church-state separation historically preceded Jewish civic equality — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans: Interpreting…, 332; Church-state separation is historically unique to the West and drove its freedom. — Samuel P. Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the…, 188 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Church-state separation alone does not define secularism’s novelty #complicates (0.80) — Talal Asad, Formations of the Secular, 18