I define it as the Government not endorsing or referencing any religion. Isn't that what the Constitution says? I believe this is what the founding fathers intended, having seen the ruinous effects on freedom in state sponsored religious European countries.

Seeing how they were almost all of a single faith, don't you think it odd they would go out of their way to explicitly prohibit a national religion? They knew what they were doing, and wisely so.

You referenced some instances where congress has endorsed the Bible/God and say we are getting further from that model. I would argue that is another form of progress towards the founding fathers wishes. Slavery existed under the Constitution; the country couldn't muster the political will to abolish that contradiction in the 1700s, it took decades. Women couldn't vote under the constitution; it took a century and a half to find the political will to fix that contradiction. I would argue what you are finally seeing now is the political will to get God out of the government. Just because something existed in the past (slavery/male voters only) doesn't make it right.



Slightly different topic. I'll throw these out there--

Does God need the US Government?

Does the US Government need God? (And if so, which One?)

I think if you ponder those, you'll see what the founding fathers were getting at.