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Originally Posted by Nucklesack  Because religious belief, or non-belief, is such an important part of every person's life, freedom of religion affects every individual. Religious institutions that use government power in support of themselves and force their views on persons of other faiths, or of no faith, undermine all our civil rights. Moreover, state support of an established religion tends to make the clergy unresponsive to their own people, and leads to corruption within religion itself. Erecting the "wall of separation between church and state," therefore, is absolutely essential in a free society |
Thus, that wall is well defined by saying "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;..." The state may not use it's governmental power to force views, or support the religion itself.