John Adams on separation of church and state

Digby quotes John Adams. Adams in this passage adamantly defends the separation of church and state, and takes a few swings at the Roman Catholic Church, too (sounds familiar…). Here’s an excerpt:

But another event still more calamitous to human liberty, was a wicked confederacy between the two systems of tyranny above described. It seems to have been even stipulated between them, that the temporal grandees should contribute every thing in their power to maintain the ascendancy of the priesthood, and that the spiritual grandees in their turn, should employ their ascendancy over the consciences of the people, in impressing on their minds a blind, implicit obedience to civil magistracy.

Sounds a bit familiar, too. Naturally John Adams, a Unitarian, would object to such a project then. Just as I object to the project today. Though wasn’t Adams behind the Alien and Sedition acts, back then? Weren’t those national security laws that ended up being used in blatantly partisan ways against Adams’ political opponents? Yes, I guess so. Bad! You bring shame on my denomination and undermine recruitment of you into my anti-Republican arguments! But didn’t those laws contribute to Adams getting voted out of office? Yes. So I guess he got what he deserved. Let us hope the same thing happens to the current crop, even if some of them are Unitarians (which I highly doubt).