An establishment of religion is official government recognition, which often involves certain privileges, promotion, restriction of other religions, funding, public acknowledgement, etc.

There can be establishment of one religion or multiple religions. The Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom prevented a multiple establishment of several Protestant denominations. The legislation proposed would have funded "teachers of the Christian religion." However, in addition to excluding Jews and other non-Christians and Roman Catholics, it also would have excluded several other denominations. It would have been "establishing" certain sects and denying any benefits to others.

In this nation all religions are (or should be) equal before the law - ("with liberty and justice for all.") Christianity should not be given any pre-eminent place. Neither should theism. Neither should atheism. Government should be of the people and by the people. The people includes those of different beliefs.

Because of our heritage, and because of the efforts of certain people and groups which want to make their brand of religion more "official," our nation does have references to God which are historical. It also has things like the insertion of "under God" into the Pledge of Allegiance, which NEVER should have been done. Majorities often (maybe I should say USUALLY) confuse predominance with dominance.

Therefore "any law respecting an establishment" refers to more than just having an official religion, like the Anglican in Great Britain or the Islamic in Iran. In the opinion of many, it should preclude any actions which TEND TOWARD any form of establishment.

Once things like "under God" get "established," they are very difficult to erase. This is because of the mentality of the masses to equate "God" with "good." And legislators are not willing to swim upstream against this.

I think it should be obvious to everyone that not everything about every religion is "good." While many do many humanitarian things, there is often a dark side, viz., the many religious wars and conflicts, and the diametrical points of view taken by some denominations and religions. This is a excellent reason to separate government and religious entities. It keeps government responsive to all and keeps religion from being subservient to government.

Separation of church and state does not mandate that religious people cannot take their beliefs into government or that they cannot attempt to influence government policies. They should not, however, use their position in government to "grind their own axe" and put government money into their church coffers.

It is not always easy to draw a line and say "this is the wall of separation." There are too many aspects. People may have honest differences of opinion. What I think is very plain is that the Religious Right is WRONG in its attempts to "establish" theism and Christianity.