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Sir Gawain wrote:

William Rehnquist totally destroys "Separation of Church and State" myth

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From Rehnquist's conclusion, at your # 63 link :

"The Framers intended the Establishment Clause to prohibit the designation of any church as a "national" one.

The Clause was also designed to stop the Federal Government from asserting a preference for one religious denomination or sect over others.

Given the "incorporation" of the Establishment Clause as against the States via the Fourteenth Amendment in Everson, >>> States are prohibited as well from establishing a religion or discriminating between sects.<<<

As its history abundantly shows, however, nothing in the Establishment Clause requires government to be strictly neutral between religion and irreligion, nor does that Clause prohibit Congress or the States from pursuing legitimate secular ends through nondiscriminatory sectarian means."

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Gawain, how can you claim these words above "totally destroy" the 'establishment clause'?

-- Rehnquist admits that neither Fed nor State can assert "a preference for one religious denomination or sect over others."
In other words, they "shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion"..
That ~is~ a separation of church from state, --- and Rehnquist admits as much.
67 -tpaine-

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PhilipFreneau wrote:

>> The 1st's establishment clause clearly shows the intent to separate church & state . . . Rehnquist admits as much.

But what many do not realize (or don't want to know) is the term "state" refers to the central (federal) government, not the individual states.

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You reject Rehnquists clear words:

>>> "States are prohibited as well from establishing a religion or discriminating between sects."<<<

Why?