Reply #9: The language dodge is a dodge

[gratuitous]

And the First Amendment is indeed the bulwark of the separation of church and state. Which is to say, that government can not endorse one religion - or any religion - over another or none.

As for studying "the original document," this isn't some fundamentalist Bible class, with an instructor who barely understands English, let alone ancient Hebrew or Greek. The United States Constitution is a living document used to guide the governance of a society in the 21st century. If your correspondent wants to park his kiester in the 18th century and stubbornly fold his arms and pout, he's welcome to do that, but the rest of us prefer to govern ourselves.