The Founders' Intent for the First Amendment

Clearly there was a range of opinion on what language should have been used for the amendment, and that just as with most of the other articles and amendments, the language actually used represented a compromise. There's no doubt from reading Jefferson and Madison's private correspondence that religious freedom was always meant to include toleration of non-Christians and atheists -- as reason and justice demand -- but when you look at some of the provisions the states enacted in their pre-1787 Constitutions (cf. Massachusetts ), clearly a massive number of America's leadership (admittedly: landowning, slaveholding, rich white males who never even heard of tofu, patchouli or Birkenstocks, but to their credit ate only organic, non-GMO produce and free-range, non-antibiotic meat, and smoked totally unfiltered tobacco) at the time of the founding believed it was part of the individual states' responsibilities to promote Christianity. It was only the *federal* government that was banned from establishing anything. It goes without saying that for most thinking Christians and all non-Christians today the idea of the Texas state government funding pastors and missionaries would send shivers down their spines. State-funded Christianity wasn't universally supported by the core Founding Fathers (in particular Madison railed against public funding of chaplains in Congress and in the military, and saw the states' sponsorship of religions as odious, and well, Madison was The Man), the idea of striking all religious expression of any kind from government surely wasn't their intent in the words "Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion."

Another point that is clear in looking at these writings, is that there was a universal acknowledgement that both Catholics and Protestants, when they obtained power in a national government, used that power unjustly to compel allegiance to their religious doctrines and practices, imprisioning and killing multitudes in the process. It had taken decades, but as Ben Franklin says, eventually even the nutty conservative Protestants figured out that all religious practice has to be voluntary. America was the first government on Earth that did not require a religious test for its leaders and officers -- absolutely one of the pillars of the American Idea that must be defended at all costs. I believe that many Christians are fearful that the day is approaching when, while they may not be required to deny their faith outright, will be required to act against or to ignore the demands of their religion in order to participate in commerce and public life. As Tom McClintock said, "What rights have a slave? There is only one: a slave can think anything he wants: as long as he doesn’t utter it or act on it – he may think what he wants." Do whatever religious wackiness floats your boat on Sunday, but on Monday you better damn well shut up about it, and if you allow your religious convictions to influence your official behavior, we'll kick you out. Simple as that.