Quote:
Originally Posted by preciousjeni
If we're going to get technical, the first amendment protects the church from the state...not the other way around.  |
I know church people love to say that, but the historical record really shows it's to protect each from the intrusion of the other.
ETA: And how could I forget --originally, the First Amendment only applied to the federal goverment. It wasn't until the passage of the Fourteenth Amendment after the Civil War that it became applicable to the states as well. So the original intent of the First Amendment, as much as anything, was to leave the question of religion to the states, some of which did have established churches into the Nineteenth Century.