"Church and state" broadly refers to the relations between institutions of Christianity and institutions of government. The subject is derived from the "wall of separation between church and state" phrase from a letter written by Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury Baptist Association of Connecticut, describing the relationship of the 'establishment clause' of the First Amendment to the institutions of Christianity. Church and state remains one of the central and ongoing issues in global politics, and approaches to church and state throughout the world range from persecution to theocracy.