[TheRealVille]

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

When Thomas Jefferson wrote his letter(1802, while he was President) to the Danbury Baptist Assn., in referring to the 1st amendment, called it a "wall of separation between church and State."

Madison wrote, "Strongly guarded. . . is the separation between religion and government in the Constitution of the United States."

"Strongly guarded as is the separation between Religion & Govt in the Constitution of the United States the danger of encroachment by Ecclesiastical Bodies, may be illustrated by precedents already furnished in their short history [attempts where religious bodies had already tried to encroach on the government]." [James Madison, Detached Memoranda, 1820]