As a loyal American and seeker of spiritual truth, I take great umbrage with Mr. Robert Shaws' assumption that religion belongs in politics. I would first draw his attention to Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan as examples of religion dictating state policy.
The results mirror much like the Christian Crusades and Inquisition, which I would humbly point out had hideous effect. As for the idea that the 1st Amendment was "made exclusively for the purpose of preventing Congress: i.e., the federal government, from ordaining a state religion," I would also point out that the church of the time, in England and elsewhere, was an all powerful entity that served itself by manipulating society and governments.
Society was coming out of the Dark Ages in which religion reined supreme through manipulation of the superstition and emotion of the masses. It follows that the founders were far less steeped in the Bible and far more fearful of its use as a manipulative tool.
In summation, I afford you a couple of quotes from Thomas Jefferson, one of the "founders:" "The clergy, by getting themselves established by law and ingrafted into the machine of government, have been a very formidable engine against the civil and religious rights of man." -- Thomas Jefferson to Jeremiah Moor, 1800.
"Believing ... that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their Legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between Church and State." --Thomas Jefferson to Danbury Baptists, 1802.
CHRISTOPHER LUNN
Minden