First, Jefferson’s letter to the Danbury Baptists is NOT “controlling” as you state, on 1st Amendment or Church/State issues. Next?
Why do you say this, given that the phrase "church and state" does not exist in the Constitution, and the only place that "wall of separation between Church and State" comes from is Jefferson's letter? Clearly, Jefferson's letter is the source of this concept, which has been what has survived for over 200 years.
Even this Wikipedia artcle on the Establishment Clause cites Jefferson's letter. Do you have another source for the common interpretation of the First Amendment Establishment clause?
You are making a HUGE leap, with your weak arguments.
Given that this is in reply to my quoting the Preamble to the Constitution, I will say that my argument is the strongest of all, because it relies SOLELY on the Constitution, and does not need outside support to interpret it. Since the Article VI Supremacy clause says that "any Thing in the Constitution" is supreme Law of the Land, and the Preamble is a Thing in the Constitution, it should be given deference to interpretations that rely on outside support.
I have posted before that I think that SCOTUS was wrong in Minor when they said that they had to look elsewhere for the definition of natural born citizen, because the definition was right there in front of them in the Preamble. Sometimes, when one over-thinks things, one becomes blind to the obvious.
The Constitution was ordained and established to preserve liberty for the people and their posterity. Only the posterity are eligible to be the head of the country in order to secure its preservation.
-PJ
Also, at the time of Jeffersons Death, nearly every State had an official, ENDORSED religion.
The liberals have completely distorted the 1st Amendment, partly through the tax code.
The fact is, the prohibitions on the Church in this country are the same as those on the Red Cross or on the YMCA: Non profits can't endorse!
That is tax law, not the 1st Amendment!
Anyway, Jefferson had his strong points, but what he said has been greatly distorted. Though Jefferson had trouble with organized religion, he was not an atheist, and Jefferson would be shocked to see the government so hostile to religion, as it is today.