jharp : You, like most leftists, are wrong on the religion issue, as in most historical matters.

Our founders were very religious people. The primary reason they came to America was to flee the oppression of the Church of England. What they declared was the separation of CHURCH and state. They were also highly literate. If they had meant “religion” they would have said “religion”,

They wanted no part of official religious organizations, like the Catholic Church, or the Church of England, or a potential “Church of the United Sates”, where, without being elected, Bishops were automatically members of the Senate, or a Cardinal was a de facto Prime Minster, had direct access to the President and might, like Cardinal Richeleau, take over the rule of the country. They did not want Sharia Law or its Christian equivalent.

It never even occurred to the Founders that religion would not be an important factor in a citizen’s vote. And they would be extremely intolerant of the Muslim’s belief in the rule of Islam.