We have NEVER had freedom of religion where we have allowed the worship of other GODS in this nation. This nation was built on the JUDAEO-CHRISTIAN religious belief system and nothing else.
Nope. It stemmed from a society where that was the predominant belief system, but there are several early documents that expressly indicate the USA was NOT a Christian nation (the Treaty of Tripoli, signed in 1796, for example).
Freedom of religion had to do with people who were CHRISTIANS being able to come here to worship as they pleased.
Whilst it is true that some of the original colonies were set up by people trying to escape persecution for being the wrong sect of Christianity, there is no indication that was the thinking when the Bill of Rights was written. There's also the simple fact that 'which sect of Christianity do you want to follow' is simply not freedom of religion.
It was NOT to promote the worship of FALSE GODS.
If simply allowing the worship of 'false gods' is 'promoting' it, then allowing any sect of Christianity is also 'promoting' it - which is against even the rather twisted interpretation of the First Amendment on display here.
Furthermore, we HAVE no separation of Church and State. The ONLY thing that was set in stone was the idea that the GOVERNMENT could not set up a particular denomination or tell the people they had to worship a particular way. THAT was NOT separation of church and state. There has NEVER been an effort to separate the church from the government until recently. This recent effort has NOTHING to do with the founders' intent or ANY of their papers they wrote at the time and is not found ANYWHERE on ANY of our founding documents.
You can't have one without the other. If any church has any sort of governmental power or influence, the people can't help but see that particular church as being the government approved and endorsed religion (or one of them).
People should be allowed to set up Nativity Scenes on every corner of every neighborhood across this fruited plain if that's what they want to do.
There is nothing stopping this happening - it's just that the government cannot be involved in any way. This means the people concerned do not get any money from the government for doing this, or get any kind of preferential treatment, and cannot do this on government owned property unless other groups get equal access to set up alternative displays.
