[RobbyS]

You forget that the Constitution did not create a nation but a government. The original document set up the original framework of the federal government and defined its powers. There already existed thirteen state governments, many of which retained state churches. Each retained the common law of England which was very Christian in its roots and orientation. The people generally regarded themselves as Christian, although it would not be until the first half of the 19th Century that they became active churhgoers and evangelical Protestantism became in everything but law the established religion of the country.Until the 1960s, the elite of the national remained Protestant Christian. Most of the immigrants who came to the United States were Catholic, but enough were assimilated that the percentage of Catholic has never risen above 25%. In the last generation, the elite has become agnostic, a development reflected in the decisions of the Supreme Court, which is THE elite institution" in the country.

[Kerberos]

”Most of the immigrants who came to the United States were Catholic, but enough were assimilated that the percentage of Catholic has never risen above 25%. ”

And wasn’t it true that the Catholics saw the state run school system as a propaganda machine that did not necessarily teach the values that they wanted to teach their children? So much so that they developed their own school system so that they wouldn’t be subjected to it.