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I'm assuming you're kidding, but just in case. The first part is "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion." It means that Congress cannot pass laws that are religious in nature -- meaning the otherway around is covered too.


It depends on the intent that the founding fathers had when writing that particular sentence. Unfortunately, we are left with the job of choosing between the two potential meanings...

1. That Congress may not respect or pass laws concerning or favoring a specific religion, or...

2. That Congress may not pass a law instituting a state-sanctioned religion such as there was in England at the time.

I tend to lean towards the latter considering that many of our Forefathers fled the Old World in search of religious freedom. It would also explain the copious amount of religious expression that is dispersed throughout our founding documents and creeds. Either our Founding Fathers were hypocrites in the greatest sense of the word, or we have been mistranslating the phrase to fit our own desires.