There will only be one ruling Church, I have always been amazed at how many people of faith (unlike yourself) don't realize that their right to worship as they believe is protected by it.

about a very similar thing. He was against allowing the government to fund religious organizations because he said inevitably the government would want to take control over how those organizations were run.

But why is it that the pope should stay out of politics and yet right wing televangelist hustlers get to inject themselves into politics and we should believe them.??

Of for that matter, political hustlers spouting nonsensical religious themed rhetoric should be believed????

They lived closer to the time of the Reformation when Catholics and Protestants took turns persecuting and killing each other depending on the religion favored by the King or Queen at the time of their reign.

about the lessons of history, and even some of those that do deliberately ignore them.

brought religion into the framework. They were right, of course. How many small towns have 4 Baptist churches? 3 Synagogues? Evangelicals, LDS, JW's? Even catholics find ways to splinter. Buddhists, as well.

Also look what chaos religious differences cause in the Middle East and caused in Ireland.

After the christofascists sent political advocates to churches in the 70s? To preach Republican hypocrisy. Because you know Reagan was a man of God and Jimmy Carter was Satan. Republicans are the Mouth piece of the Antichrist.

Their patriotism is as phony as their "christianity."

That is precisely why they wanted that to be impossible in the US. The founders were a mix of hardcore religious types and the areligious (the Deists.) The body of the Constitution bans religious tests for office. The First Amendment both prevents a state religion and guarantees the right to practice any (or no) religion. Too many see the "right to practice" as the right to discriminate against those who do not share the same religion. The Constitution is crystal clear that the US should never be a theocracy.

so they could practice their religion freely but also welcomed Protestants. Letting everyone choose to practice whatever religion they choose, as well as not trying to force people who don't believe, to believe, is a major part of the beauty of the U.S., or it was until we let a bunch of ideologues take over our media and our government.

That is the "separation of church and state." It means that Congress can't establish a state religion, and Congress can't prevent anyone in the U.S. from worshiping as they choose.

In other words it is a constitutionally protected right in the U.S. to be Christian, Muslim, Hindi, Jewish, pagan, Wiccan or whatever you choose, and nobody can make that illegal.

At the same time, the government can't say that any religion is the official state religion.