Why we have separation of Church and State today, is because of the 14th Amendment. A Reconstruction Amendment meant to ensure that slaves are citizens. And a misconstrued statement by Thomas Jefferson taken out of context by the Supreme Court.

Some Rights Causes Are More Equal Than Others by Johanna Markind http://www.islamist-watch.org/5523/some-rights-causes-are-more-equal-than-others Excerpt: The ACLU touts itself as "our nation's guardian of liberty." It has pursued a strategy of assisting society's fringes, including its most offensive elements, on the theory that by protecting their civil liberties, it would necessarily safeguard the rights of all. Hence its advocacy for Nazis planning to march through Skokie, Illinois, a community with many Holocaust survivors. The ACLU explains, "We're not anti-anything. The only things we fight are attempts to take away or limit your civil liberties, like your right to practice any religion you want (or none at all) … or to speak...

Some Rights Causes Are More Equal Than Others by Johanna Markind http://www.islamist-watch.org/5523/some-rights-causes-are-more-equal-than-others Excerpt: The ACLU touts itself as "our nation's guardian of liberty." It has pursued a strategy of assisting society's fringes, including its most offensive elements, on the theory that by protecting their civil liberties, it would necessarily safeguard the rights of all. Hence its advocacy for Nazis planning to march through Skokie, Illinois, a community with many Holocaust survivors. The ACLU explains, "We're not anti-anything. The only things we fight are attempts to take away or limit your civil liberties, like your right to practice any religion you want (or none at all) … or to speak...

The Founding Father separated Church from the Federal Government, not the State Governments.

Thomas Paine criticized Christianity and the Bible as false. http://www.ushistory.org/paine/reason/singlehtml.htm

I am not incorrect. If you actually read what I posted. I said the 14th Amendment extended the Bill of Rights to the States, i.e., including the 1st Amendment. The 14th Amendment was a Reconstruction Amendment designed to give slaves full rights as citizens of the United States.

Jefferson was only referring to the Federal Government. The Bill of Rights did not apply to the State Governments until the 14th Amendment. "The Separation of Church and State" was a statement regarding Federalism, not Religion. A number of State Governments originally had State sponsored religions .

The Mythical "Wall of Separation": How a Misused Metaphor Changed Church–State Law, Policy, and Discourse http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2006/06/the-mythical-wall-of-separation-how-a-misused-metaphor-changed-church-state-law-policy-and-discourse "In matters of religion, I have considered that its free exercise is placed by the constitution independent of the power of the federal government. I have therefore undertaken, on no occasion, to prescribe the religious exercises suited to it; but have left them, as the constitution found them, under the direction of state or church authorities acknowledged by the several religious societies" (Thomas Jefferson, from his Second Inaugural Address) "I consider the government of the...

The Mythical "Wall of Separation": How a Misused Metaphor Changed Church-State Law, Policy, and Discourse http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2006/06/the-mythical-wall-of-separation-how-a-misused-metaphor-changed-church-state-law-policy-and-discourse See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourteenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Separation_of_church_and_state_in_the_United_States http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barron_v._Baltimore "In matters of religion, I have considered that its free exercise is placed by the constitution independent of the power of the federal government. I have therefore undertaken, on no occasion, to prescribe the religious exercises suited to it; but have left them, as...

comment continued... Here is also another quote of Jefferson's confirming his views: "I consider the government of the United States as interdicted by the Constitution from intermeddling in religious institutions, their doctrines, discipline, or exercises. This results not only from the provision that no law shall be made respecting the establishment or free exercise of religion, but from that also which reserves to the states the powers not delegated to the United States. Certainly, no power to prescribe any religious exercise or to assume authority in religious discipline has been delegated to the General Government. It must rest with the States, as far as it can be in any human authority" (letter to Samuel Miller, Jan. 23,...