> It’s freedom of religion, not freedom from religion.
At the federal level, it's been both since the beginning; freedom of religion under the free exercise clause, and freedom from religion under the establishment clause, both of the First Amendment. Just like the rest of the First Amendment, and much (but not all) of the rest of the Bill of Rights, that's been held to be incorporated against the states under the 14th Amendment.
> New Hampshire had a state church until 1877.
Very shortly after the 14th Amendment was ratified in 1868 and before the Court had heard and ruled on the cases in which it found the First Amendment rights to be fundamental rights inherent in the concept of ordered liberty incorporated against the states by the 14th Amendment. The states are not free to impose a state church any more than they are to ban all religious expression, for the same Constitutional reason, and they are no more free to do either under the 14th Amendment than the federal government is to given the First.
At the federal level, it's been both since the beginning; freedom of religion under the free exercise clause, and freedom from religion under the establishment clause, both of the First Amendment. Just like the rest of the First Amendment, and much (but not all) of the rest of the Bill of Rights, that's been held to be incorporated against the states under the 14th Amendment.
> New Hampshire had a state church until 1877.
Very shortly after the 14th Amendment was ratified in 1868 and before the Court had heard and ruled on the cases in which it found the First Amendment rights to be fundamental rights inherent in the concept of ordered liberty incorporated against the states by the 14th Amendment. The states are not free to impose a state church any more than they are to ban all religious expression, for the same Constitutional reason, and they are no more free to do either under the 14th Amendment than the federal government is to given the First.