[cantfindagoodscreenname]

Governments are not supposed to be in the business of promoting religion NOR suppressing it.

I have never understood why the word "established" has come to mean "promoted" in legalese. I think that the definitions of those two words are worlds apart. Do you have any insight into this?

[CobaltBlue]

Establishment is an old term, meaning in this context a state religion, as Church of England used to be. Several of the colonies had state religions.

As for how the First Amendment and the rest of the Bill of Rights came to apply to the states, that's a long story. I took a poly sci course on this undergrad and it took an entire semester.