ABSTRACT
The Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the US Constitution commands, "Congress shall make no laws respecting an establishment of religion." Colonial America was a Christian America. It was the shared assumption of almost every American colony that government and Christianity should not be separated. Indeed, every colony but one had an established church. "Establishment" meant the 1,400-year tradition in Western societies that assumed government should grant the dominant church special protection, privileges, and public funds, and its clergy special ceremonial status. The precise meaning of the Establishment Clause is open to debate. It is clear that none of the principal leaders at the founding believed that government should ignore religious feelings. The history of the Establishment Clause challenges the assumption that churches and the government must inevitably conflict.
