Caridad Antolick, Tayra de la

The current use of the phrase "wall of separation" between church and state as a legal defense for the removal of religious expression (particularly Protestant Christianity), i.e., religious expression, from governmental institutions and the prohibition of the free exercise of individuals working within them goes contrary not only to the original intent of the Founders and the Framers but also to the religious, political, and legal history and traditions of the United States of America. The abundance of historical evidence reduces the colonial contentions to three: 1) no legal establishment of one sect of Christianity or another religion as the national religion; 2) no legal prohibition against the free exercise of religious conscience of any religions, especially minority ones; 3); and no taxation of the citizenry for the support of a legally preferred religion. The application of these three prongs of the "historical test" will reduce litigation, minimize judicial vacillation, and uphold the principles that precipitated the Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses of the First Amendment.