(August 29, 2010 at 9:49 am)AngryBiker Wrote: It states simply that Congress shall establish no religion, nor prohibit the free exercise thereof.Yes, and choosing one aspect of a religion (i.e. belief in God) and putting into official state ceremonies, or pledges, or displaying the 10 commandments in courtrooms, *is* prohibiting the free exercise of religion by anyone whose religion doesn't subscribe to those ideas.
There are two solutions to this. Either allow every single religion to have a place in government (i.e. have every single set of religious commandment displayed at court rooms), or allow none of them (including atheism).
In recent years, the former was tried (namely holiday displays in government buildings), and it just made everything a mess. Thus, it is far easier to allow no religion a prominent place in the state.
People can still worship on their own; still say prayers in public buildings if they want, just as long as they aren't doing it as part of an American "all-inclusive" ceremony.
