The Establishment Clause of the Constitution

     More misunderstanding exists about the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment than anything else in the Constitution, usually in support of the claims that the Founders of the nation were atheists, which not one of them was, and that they prescribed a "wall of separation" between church and state in order to protect the state from religious encroachments.  Many were  Deists which, in the fashion of the time, embraced the notion that God started the Universe off and then more or less left it alone.  In other words He did not interact with man or interfere with the natural course of events.   But He was quite real and, consistent with that, Thomas Jefferson, who was frequently slandered as an atheist, wrote to his friend Dr. Benjamin Rush, in a letter dated April 21, 1803, that his views were ". . . the result of a life of inquiry and reflection, and very different from the anti-Christian system imputed to me by those who know nothing of my opinions".  Jefferson then wrote "I am a Christian . . ." though he questioned whether God accomplished His purposes through miracles.  He was not an atheist nor were the others.  No atheist drafted the Declaration of Independence.  He described Jesus as "meek, benevolent, patient, firm, disinterested, and of the sublimest eloquence".

     The Establishment Clause was put in the Constitution to prevent Congress from interfering with established churches in the states, of which there were many at the time.  By his "wall of separation" Jefferson meant a wall which protected churches from interference by governments, not the reverse.  The ridiculous idea of an establishment of a federally-chartered church was not in the minds of those who drafted and ratified the Constitution