“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof . . .”
In our own time it is axiomatic that no religion should receive preferred status from the state—nor should any religion be discriminated against. The legislated atheism of Communist governments and the theocracy of isolated places such as Iran earn not only philosophical but also stylistic criticism: don’t they realize, we ask ourselves, that this sort of thing just isn’t done any more? To the average Western liberal, Russia’s official anti-religion is not only abhorrent and detestable but also an index of Communism’s social backwardness, like ill-fitting suits or outmoded automobiles.
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