This means Congress (and any other state with this in their Constitution) cannot create a “Church of the United States” or a “Church of Virginia, Carolina, etc.”.
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That’s only at the Federal level, since it is a Federal ammendment to the federal constitution.
There were state churches if I remember ... I’m not that old!
“That’s only at the Federal level, since it is a Federal ammendment to the federal constitution.
There were state churches if I remember ... I’m not that old!”
You are correct, up until Amendment XIV. In 1833, SCOTUS ruled in Barron vs. Baltimore that the Bill of Rights did not apply at the state level. It wasn’t until the Incorporation Doctrine that the BOR finally applied at the state level.
Cases continued throughout the late 1800’s in favor of the BOR at the state level. That doctrine was officially cemented in the famous case, Adamson v. California, in 1947 and continued throughout the 60’s. The precedence is clear, and understandable, that these unaliable rights should also apply at the state levels via Amendment XIV.