| The First Amendment of the US Constitution prohibits the Federal government from establishing an official NATIONAL RELIGION as godpaul26 states. Meaning that such religion would have the authority to tax non-believers as well as believers, This was common practice in Europe at the time. However, certain states, including Virginia, had official STATE RELIGIONS which were recognized in their state constitutions. The founding fathers recognized a "creator" or "providence" as a basis for our fundamental rights, as stated in the Declaration of Independence. The US Supreme Court ruling which discovered a "separation of church and state" based their decision to a degree on a letter written by Thomas Jefferson which makes this claim. In this letter Jefferson was referring to his belief that there should be no establishment of a National Religion, however, Jefferson wrote the Virginia Constitution which provided for a recognized State Religion. |
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