General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Constitutional horror: Clarence Thomas argues states can establish official religion [View all]Taitertots
(7,745 posts)"Established as you are using it means that these churches exist and have structure."
No. I'm using the standard dictionary definition.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Establishment+of+religion
"That is why freedom of religion was included in the Constitution. So that the country could not establish any religion and exclude any. "
No, the establishment clause (not freedom of religion) was included. Because people in established religions were afraid that congress would separate their churches from the state. Established religions weren't shut down when the constitution was ratified.
"When the Quakers got into a disagreement "
The "disagreement" was that they didn't want to have to pay taxes to support other people's established churches.