My primary online hangouts are the places where folks revel in the first amendment --Oregonmediainsiders, and the second amendment --TheHighRoad. I do a lot of conversing with folks on both boards in relation to the documents that govern our country. There is a key word in there: Govern.

In 200+ years of existence, no one has found a single reference to an established State religion--Think Shari'a or the Church of England. If the founding fathers wanted it in there, why not PUT it in there? Heck, Madison, the very author of the Constitution was an Episcopalian, and by all accounts, very religious.

Without a pause, all the founding fathers thought the best of men would only be realized by the practice of religious virtue. And yet, for some reason, they saw fit to create a secular state. Very curious, that.

There is, perhaps, a reason. One that is often misinterpreted: The Consitution isn't a recipe for how to live life...but rather a recipe for how to govern. You will note that no where in the consitution does it say what the PEOPLE should do...it holds it's scope to what the GOVERNMENT should do. In other words, the 9th Amendment holds true:

The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people.

The goal of the founding fathers wasn't to secure a religious state, it was to keep government OUT of religion. Let the People decide what sort of religion they wanted.

Now the big question is: how we repel those who would seek to establish or mandate a state religion? Or should we acquiesce and go with the Christian flavor du jour? That seems like a recipe for disaster.