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Originally Posted by D_hodough
"From" would indicate a removal or exlusion of the people and religion... which would mean that the Constitution defines us as an atheist state... which isn't the case. You might begin to realize how inaccurate that statement might be when you remember that many of our founders were religious men.
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Actually I think Jefferson while he was president put it quite plainly:
"In 1802, President Jefferson wrote a letter to a group of Baptists in Danbury, Connecticut, in which he declared that it was the purpose of the First Amendment to build ''a wall of separation between Church and State.''
Although your interpretation of it establising an atheist state is pretty close - that was the intent - to establish a government with no preferential treatment because of religion - keep in mind that most of why people left England and other European countries and settled in the US colonies was because of religious persecution.
Also - you might do a little research into the religious beliefs of the constitutional signers - a heavy percentage of them were NOT Christian and had very robust beliefs that religion was an anchor that could drag down a new nation