"Believing... that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legislative powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should 'make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,' thus building a wall of separation between church and state." - Thomas Jefferson, 1802

I hadn't known the origins of that much used term until recently, but I think it should serve as an example to all the extremists in our country. A man such as Jefferson, with deep religious convictions, could easily see the consequences of the State endorsing any one religion over the other. Of course, it's a good bet that he was more intelligent than any five modern Fundamentalist pundits put together, but it's always nice to know that our founding fathers really did want us to be free in the truest sense of the word.