Regarding the First Amendment

We live in a society that, in many quarters, has a twisted understanding of the separation of church and state. The establishment clause of the First Amendment, “Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion…” was never intended to rule God or religion out of the public square. Prayer in Congress and other public domain doesn’t amount to establishment of religion. The amendment does not call for prohibiting reference to God or religion, or prayer. It prohibits the establishment of religion. What is it in the word “establishment” that some of our leaders don’t understand? And the secularists overlook the second clause of this part of the First Amendment, “or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” We should be able to exercise our religious beliefs whether we are in Congress, in the oval office, in our schools and courts, and not be limited to our homes and churches. Those who object must do soon on grounds other than the Constitution. The so-called separation of Church and State first seen in a letter of Thomas Jefferson to a New England Baptist Church, should not be construed to the forbidding of all reference to the Deity, and all call to prayer and worship outside the church. It will be a sad day for America if the secularists win the legal aspects of this one, over all religious people.