The United States is a secular nation. Period.

[magellan]

19. Another clue: the US census

I have ancestors here and in Canada going back to before censuses were taken, and the one thing I've never found in a US federal census, starting with the 1790, is a religious question. While it's true that religious bodies are asked this question, individuals never have been - at least through 1940.

Not so in Canada, where there's no separation of church and state; the English monarch embodies both. Yet they've asked the religion question since the 1851 census.

I can't imagine why the founders weren't equally interested in knowing the religious makeup of the American people, if in fact they intended us to be a "Christian Nation" ... unless they felt that people's personal religious beliefs weren't within the purview of the government - which is pretty much made clear in the establishment clause.

And while we're at it, let's not forget the No Religious Test Clause, which covers "the Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States". Just another part of the Constitution that's ignored by the hysterical right at each election.