The real object of the First Amendment was not to countenance, much less to advance Mohammedanism, or Judaism, or infidelity, by prostrating Christianity, but to exclude all rivalry among Christian sects [denominations] and to prevent any national ecclesiastical patronage of the national government.
Justice Story, III, Commentaries on the Constitution - the first commentaries of their kind in America. Interesting to note: Justice Story was appointed by Madison - one whom the secularists try to hold up, albeit incorrectly, as their model Founder.
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