about the "forbidding the practice of religion" ..the amendment reads:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

if you want to read a learned, complex and detailed exposition of the issue, start here ...especially this section

it seems that some, like Alan Keyes wish to claim that "Congress shall make no law..." means that they must stay out of the issue altogether, and that thus, each state may therefore do anything it wishes...including imposing religious observances and aiding and supporting particular religions.

In the 2nd link above, there are detailed expositions of what Madison intended, of challenges to his views, of judicial decisions over the years and of the relevance of those decisions.

What *I* see right now is similar to what 'guest' notes...that is, more insertion of Christian programming on TV..("The Greatest Story Ever Told" ran last night, a Discovery channel production on "Armageddon" is about to run...etc.). It may be argued that sure..you always see lot of this during the holiday season, and I understand this....but I see more 'stridency' in the productions and emboldenment by more conservative religious factions since Bush was elected. Time will tell.

I, personally, hold to the view that congress shall, indeed, "make no law...forbidding the free practice therof"....but I also want to retain the interpretation that 'congress shall do NOTHING to support, advocate or allow the precedence of one religion over another, OR to support or advocate religion in general over nonreligion.

This is easy to say, but quite difficult to administer when a school wants to put on a Nativity play, or a courthouse wants to put a creché on the lawn. The line between private practice and public 'enablement' is pretty fuzzy in many cases.

I do predict that in the coming few years, we will see the issue hotly debated as religious institutions try to gain more leverage and secular interests try to limit the situation......