[supercat]

If the 1st Amendment to the US Constitution did not apply, then STATE governments could impose religion on us at a local level, which is not true.

Actually, weren't there some official local and state religions at the time the Constitution was ratified? They faded out by the time of the Civil War, but at the time of the original ratification I believe official state/local religions were recognized in some places.

[SedVictaCatoni]

Actually, weren't there some official local and state religions at the time the Constitution was ratified? They faded out by the time of the Civil War, but at the time of the original ratification I believe official state/local religions were recognized in some places.

Yes, that's quite true... at the time of the ratification of the Constitution, Congregationalism was the official religion of the State of Connecticut.