Thanks for linking to this thread Joe.
Perhaps it will lead others to read more about Thomas, who I believe may mature into the best conservative Justices the Court has ever had.
You beg the question by claiming that Republican government rules out sectarian forms. The Constitution says no such thing, nor did the Founders. If it had, then the already established state churches would have been rendered illegal. They weren't because the First amendment was designed not to abolish state established religions but to protect them.
The 1st "establishment clause" was intended to prevent the establishments of sectarian religions from ruling over the lives of 'We the People', joe
We fought for freedom from such old world concepts.
Thomas clearly points out that only since the 14th amendment applied the BOR to the states have state establishments of religion been prohibited even pointing out the "irony" that "an incorporated Establishment Clause prohibits exactly what the Establishment Clause protected--state practices that pertain to "an establishment of religion."