[freeeee]

"It neither breaks my back, nor picks my pocket what another man believes." Not bad conditions overall - don't make me contribute to your state religion, and your religion better not physically affect me in any way.

That's where I stand. I prefer the government remain neutral in regard to religion, neither promoting it nor hindering it in any way.

[RinaseaofDs]

That's the point. It isn't and never has been neutral. Maryland was named for Mary, the Mother of God. There is so many references to God in the Gettysburg address that I'm surprised that the Lincoln memorial is still open.

Our founding documents state that 'Our Creator has endowed each of us with unalienable rights . . .'

The establishment clause was there to prevent another Church of England, not to eradicate the free expression of religious belief in governance.

Furthermore, the Constitution prohibited Congress from making any laws establishing churches, not the states. Alabama could turn its courthouse into a synogogue, and nothing in the constitution should mitigate their doing so.

This is why Jefferson so freely referenced God and Jeffersons beliefs in writing our fundamental documents.

We don't feel the same way.