To: Cicero
And at the time it was written, established meant exactly that--that there should be no official, established national church like the Church of England. And even further, it is my understanding that the main purpose for prohibiting a national religion was so as to not interfere with the official religions of each of the states.
38 posted on
12/21/2005 2:08:35 PM PST by
kevkrom
("Zero-sum games are transactions mostly initiated by thieves and governments." - Walter Williams)
To: kevkrom
True. The Constitution did NOT make it unconstitutional to have established state churches. Not all the states had established churches, but a number of them did, notably Massachusetts. If you didn't like it, you could move to Connecticut or Rhode Island, as many people did.
51 posted on
12/21/2005 3:07:59 PM PST by
Cicero
(Marcus Tullius)
To: kevkrom
During the debates that framed the First Amendment, forms of the word "establish" were used by the Representatives to refer to concepts other than a national church like the Church of England.
Rep. Huntington used the word "establishment" to refer to an establishment of religion in Massachusetts and New Hampshire that did not even mention a particular doctrine or form of worship. He was referring to the establishment by law of the duty to support the "Protestant" religion. Protestant was not defined in the statute and any church that claimed to be Protestant could be voted by the locals to receive the support.
MR. HUNTINGTON said that he feared, with the gentleman first up on this subject, that the words might be taken in such latitude as to be extremely hurtful to the cause of religion. He understood the amendment to mean what had been expressed by the gentleman from Virginia; but others might find it convenient to put another construction on it. The ministers of their congregations to the eastward were maintained by contributions of those who belong to their society; the expense of building meeting houses was contributed in the same manner. These things were regulated by bylaws. If an action was brought before a federal court on any of these cases, the person who had neglected to perform his engagements could not be compelled to do it; for a support of ministers or buildings of places of worship might be construed into a religious establishment.
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