Indeed, there were a lot of writings about religion and government. Nearly all of them say that religious faith was not only important to the continued success of our system of government, but vital. I can give you a few pages worth of quotes, but a little Googling should do you just fine.

When I refer to the Danbury letter, I do so because it was the fundamental piece of writing cited in the SCOTUS case that erected the famous "wall of separation". Indeed, that phrase is a direct quote from the letter. To my knowledge, no other writing from any founder was used to justify the Court's decision.

As I said, nothing in the Constitution prevents any state from respecting one, several, or all religions. That is the beauty of our system of government. As constructed, states may conduct themselves as they wish and you, as a free citizen, may live in the one whose laws suit you best.

The revolutionary period is full of discussions and writings on the subject. You are talking about the Danbury Priest letter and that is famous but hardly the only letter or significant piece written on the subject at the time.

The Constitution contains a very direct seperation of Church and State in paragraph 3 of Article 6.

"The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States".

Note the reference to both State and federal elected officials.

Pretty clear instructions.

I am for a good degree more seperation than this event represents for any religion.

Shall we have a day for each Religion?

How about a day where all non-profits including churches that contribute to their communities are recognized.

Let them have a parade and the Governor or the Mayor can go out just like on Columbus Day and read the list of Community benefits provided by the groups.

Idon't beleive it is the place of the Government or part of our philosophical foundations to single out one religion for Government recognition like this.

More, though, the notion that a state could not endorse a particular religion is not prohibited by the Constitution. It may be prohibited by a state Constitution, but that's up to the state, just as the Founders intended it should be. The advantage to you is if you don't like that your state favors a religion, you can move to another one, or petition your state government to change its mind.

But I don't see the situation as religions competing for scraps of support but as a people asking their government to encourage religious belief of all kinds. I believe that is a proper place for government and the founders did as well.

I really think this is a slippery slope where religions will compete for scraps of support from local and State Governments and in pockets where some religions have a clear majority there will be abuses and govt. sanctification that allow areas where some groups attempt to exercise dominion over others.