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bb said: Plus recall that the religion clauses of the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights were primarily designed to be assurances to the States that the feds would not transgress the States' own prerogatives, customs, and liberties in this regard.

tpaine replied: And it worked, -- the feds didn't transgress, and the existing State religions withered away.

Jeepers, tpaine, you speak as if you think the "withering away" of religion is a good thing.

I wonder why. Consider these lines from Trenchard & Gordon:

All men are born free; Liberty is a Gift they receive from God; nor can they alienate the same by Consent, though possibly they may forfeit it by crimes....
Liberty is the power which every man has over his own Actions, and the Right to enjoy the Fruit of his Labor, Art, and Industry, as far as by it he hurts not the Society, or any Member of it, by taking from any Member, or by hindering him from enjoying what he himself enjoys.
The fruits of a Man's honest industry are the just rewards of it, ascertained to him by natural and eternal Equity, as is his Title to use them in the Manner which he thinks fit: And thus, with the above Limitations, every Man is sole Lord and Arbiter of his own private Actions and Property.... [Cato's Letters]

Trenchard & Gordon were major exponents of the "libertarian" political philosophy of John Locke; Cato's Letters were widely read in the American Colonies, and highly influential in shaping early American political thought and attitudes. The above lines are the classical libertarian expression regarding the ultimate foundation of a just political order. The Creator God justifies and guarantees the sphere of human liberty; His eternal Equity is the standard and measure of the individual and public good.

Why would you want to dispense with God?

Just wondering....

The feds are just as bound as state/local governments. It's up to 'we the people' to keep ALL levels of gov't obeying the Constitution.

Plus recall that the religion clauses of the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights were primarily designed to be assurances to the States that the feds would not transgress the States' own prerogatives, customs, and liberties in this regard.

And it worked, -- the feds didn't transgress, and the existing State religions withered away. -- By 1848, when the Mormons tried to enshrine a state religion in Utah's new Constitution, the concept was rejected. - Only republican forms of government were approved for admission to the Union.

Jeepers, tpaine, you speak as if you think the "withering away" of religion is a good thing

I think keeping our "republican form of government" in the various States very important Betty, - you don't?

And never fear, religion in the USA will never wither away. Not if the people insist that their States abide by our Constitution.
States have enormous powers to reject federal transgressions.
They do not do so for political reasons, not constitutional ones. -- Apparently, you can't agree on this specific point?