This is one of the approaches to trying to minimize religious influence to the benefit of the state. Another is the idea of safeguarding "freedom of worship" as opposed to freedom of religion. Yet another is the long-standing practice of creating entitlements that establish dependency on government at the cost of private charity. You can throw same sex marriage, legal adoption by gays, government support of embryonic stem cell research, etc. into the mix also.
The entire process is aimed at restricting religious influence to Sunday mornings in Church if, and only if, the right things are said at the pulpit.
This is indeed a war on religion by the state and a society bent on reducing the moral influence of the Church.
Properly seen, this is a spiritual struggle between evil and good.
This is simply a war on the people. The Newlands, for example, are not "religion", they are human beings attacked by Obama's oppression machine.