The protocols for making distinctions between religion and politics are not the same as the as the constantly changing standards for the separation of church and state. The latter doctrine stems from the First Amendment statement that Congress is prohibited from endorsing any single specific religious denomination as was and still is the case in the United Kingdom where the monarch was the head of an official state-sponsored denomination. The First Amendment reads as follows:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances." (Second clause text emphasis was added by me and in my opinion it should apply to judicial fiat as well as legislation.)
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