Far from suppressing faith, separation of church and state, by decoupling the two institutions, gave all Americans the right to decide for themselves what, if anything, they would believe about God (or Gods), how they would worship, where they would worship and when they would worship.

A proper enforcement of separation of church and state would be impossible without the 14th Amendment, the 150th anniversary of which was celebrated on July 28.

All Americans should be equal in the eyes of the government, yet the Christian nation concept sends the message that there is a “true” religion – Christianity – and all other beliefs are merely tolerated, at best. Adherents of these “lesser” belief systems are told that they are second-class citizens, that they are little more than guests in their own nation.