Agreeing to Disagree: How the Establishment Clause Protects Religious Diversity and Freedom of Conscience

The Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion", may be the most contentious and misunderstood provision of the entire United States Constitution. What exactly is an "establishment of religion"? And what is a law "respecting" it?



Many commentators reduce the clause to "the separation of church and state." This implies that church and state are at odds, that the public sphere must be secular, and that the Establishment Clau...