Was Madison’s intent to protect religion from government interference?
Yes, and interestingly, it was the Evangelical Christians of his day that rallied behind him most passionately in support of church-state separation. The 18th-century evangelicals were Madison’s and Jefferson’s foot soldiers in the drive for religious liberty. Of course, some of this evangelical support was practical—they aimed to stop the persecutions and break up the authority of the established churches which were preventing them from praying the way they wanted. But there was also a theology to their advocacy of church-state separation. They believed in a personal relationship with God that didn’t have to always go through intermediary institutions, namely clergy or church. And this kind of individual liberty or democratic—with a small “d”—approach to religion meshed perfectly with the revolutionary spirit of Jefferson, Madison, and other founders who were insistent in their protestations to the British Crown that the individual also has the right to liberty. You also point out tha
