Originally Posted by alias

It is important to note that the "Establishment Clause" and "Free Exercise Clause" explicitly apply to the federal government although they have been liberally extended by the Supreme Court to include all levels of government. The logic by which they have been extended is voluminous and sometimes difficult to work through but it involves interpreting the grammar and language of the clauses in historical context. Not to be simplistic (as the Supreme Court almost never is) but when a word or phrase is as obvious as "Congress" is, I'm at a loss to understand why it should be "interpreted" to mean all forms and levels of government within the territorial boundaries of the country and any agency thereof"........