The First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States

“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”.

— adopted on December 15, 1791, as one of the ten amendments that constitute the American Bill of Rights

Not the Most Desirable Accomodation But in Principle Not the Worst:

“Pope Leo XIII to the Archbishops and Bishops of the United States, and dated Jan. 6, 1895.

“For the Church amongst you, unopposed by the Constitution and government of your nation, fettered by no hostile legislation, protected against violence by the common laws and the impartiality of the tribunals, is free to live and act without hindrance. Yet, though all this is true, it would be very erroneous to draw the conclusion that in America is to be sought the type of the most desirable status of the Church, or that it would be universally lawful or expedient for State and Church to be, as in America, dissevered and divorced.”

— quoted in “The Church of Christ: A Collection of Essays by Monsignor Joseph C. Fenton” by Fr. Joseph Clifford Fenton. Christian Washburn, Principles Underlying Traditional Church-State Doctrine