Today's Morning Edition featured a discussion of the reach of the First Amendment's guarantees of religious freedom. Specifically, how precisely does the Constitution prescribe the separation of church and state? Taking as a starting place Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell's trouble with the notion that "separation" is a principle of the First Amendment, former Solicitors General Walter Dellinger and Paul Clement considered whether she has a point. You can listen to the exchange here.
Clement remarked that beyond the restriction the Establishment Clause places restricting the government from establishing a national religion, which everyone pretty much agrees on, there's not much widespread consensus that it goes any further than that.
But is that true?
Even if there are some disputes on the edges, aren't courts in broad agreement that the Establishment Clause does considerably more than simply prohibit an official state religion?
