1st Amendment

Amendment I

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; .....

Consistent with the other amendments in the Bill of Rights, the 1st Amendment limits the power of the federal government.

By preventing Congress from establishing an official church of America, the Amendment prevents both governmental funding of a specific church, and more importantly prevents any federal laws requiring citizens to join a specific denomination (Sects in colonial times).

Citizens were free to join (on not join) the church of their choosing, whether it be Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, Baptist ora any other denomination.  It would also apply to non-Christian faiths such as Judaism or Muslim.

The 1st Amendment does NOT ban the federal government from being Christian, or following the God of the Bible.

For example, The state of Minnesota's constitution states the people are grateful to God.

Minnesota, 1857, Preamble. We, the people of the State of Minnesota, grateful to God for our civil and religious liberty.....

(Every state constitution contains language such as this.  See the book for a full listing.)

Had the 1st Amendment truly banned God, the state of Minnesota would never have been admitted to the Union with their state constitution.