The First Amendment 

   Excerpts from Andrew Walker

     "The authors of 'Agreeing to Disagree' argue that the original purpose of the establishment and free exercise clauses was not to create an impregnable wall between church and state, wherein the government can have no interaction with religion."

     "It was instead to limit the ability of the government to forge formal relations with religious bodies and to allow individuals of minority religions to live freely."  

     "The Establishment Clause was not to secularize society any more than it was to Christianize it, they write. 'Its purpose was to prevent the government from using its power to mold the society into any particular religious shape; it was to leave the degree and nature of religious practice to the free choice of the people, as nearly as it possible.'"

     "The goal was to make way for an organic religious republicanism whose freedom to operate without the watchful gaze of government would help it thrive." 

     "The Americans United for Separation of Church and State actually opposes the original purpose of the First Amendment."