About half of the proposals would shield pharmacists who refuse to fill prescriptions for birth control and "morning-after" pills because they believe the drugs cause abortions. But many are far broader measures that would shelter a doctor, nurse, aide, technician or other employee who objects to any therapy. That might include in-vitro fertilization, physician-assisted suicide, embryonic stem cells and perhaps even providing treatment to gays and lesbians. .... "These represent a major expansion of this notion of right of refusal," said Elizabeth Nash of the Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit organization that studies reproductive health issues and is tracking the legislation. "You're seeing it broadening to many types of workers -- even into the world of social workers -- and for any service for which you have a moral or religious belief."

[Maggie] Garrett, the ACLU attorney, said the bill will likely be thrown out in court. Garrett pointed out that Barrow County had to reimburse the ACLU $150,000 for its legal fees and the case never even got to trial. "It's really important to take time to consider how costly it would be," Garrett said. "It could be a big waste of taxpayers' money."

Democrats in both states have introduced bills authorizing school districts to teach courses modeled after a new textbook, "The Bible and Its Influence." It was produced by the nonpartisan, ecumenical Bible Literacy Project and provides an assessment of the Bible's impact on history, literature and art that is academic and detached, if largely laudatory. .... The textbook they endorse was the brainchild of Chuck Stetson, a New York investment manager and theologically conservative Episcopalian who says he was concerned about public ignorance of the Bible. Mr. Stetson helped produce "The Bible and Its Influence" as the centerpiece of a course that seeks to teach about the Bible and its legacy without endorsing or offending any specific faith. The textbook came to the attention of Democratic legislators in Alabama and Georgia through the advocacy of R. Randolph Brinson, a Republican and founder of the evangelical voter-registration group Redeem the Vote. Mr. Brinson, who said he was working with legislators in other states as well, described his pitch to Democrats as, "Introducing this bill will show the evangelical world that they are not hostile to faith."

The declaration has been developed by the Society for Values in Higher Education. Nancy Thomas, director of the society's Democracy Project, said that during 2004, many scholars became concerned about a sense of "decreased tolerance" in public life, divisions into "secular and religious camps" in American society, and a sense that as religion was playing a more important role in American life, far too many Americans are ignorant about it. Higher education is experiencing many of the tensions caused by these trends, she said, but can also be "a catalyst" for change. .... In the declaration's introduction, the authors stress that what they are seeking is not just a new course or lecture series, but something much broader. "Changes in the landscape of religion in American public life provide the academy with myriad opportunities for study, dialogue, critique, and action," the draft says. "Yet religion is all too often marginalized to religious studies programs and campus ministries. This statement advocates for the study about religion in all its dimensions, disciplines, and complexities and every level of education. We challenge colleges and universities to teach about religion across the curriculum and as part of their efforts to educate citizens for a diverse, complex, and religion-infused local and global society."

"One of the things that is very difficult to me," Breyer said, is determining "what precisely are the values that underlie" the Establishment Clause, which states that Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion. The idea behind the language "comes out of the wars of religion" between Catholics and Protestants in 17th-century Europe, he said, noting that the writers of the Constitution wanted only to ensure that Americans could practice their religion and teach it to their children.

The interpretation of the Establishment Clause has evolved in the 20th century, as the country changed and immigrants introduced dozens of new religions into the United States. "The Founders did engage in a lot of activities that would be forbidden today under ... current interpretations of the Establishment Clause," said Breyer, because they lived in a generally homogenous nation. As the nation has changed, the court's view of the Establishment Clause has changed, but Breyer believes it has still stayed true to the original values that the Founders intended.

The most bluntly theocratic effort, however, is the Constitution Restoration Act, which Brownback co-sponsored with Jim DeMint, another former C Streeter who was then a congressman from South Carolina. If passed, it will strip the Supreme Court of the ability to even hear cases in which citizens protest faith-based abuses of power. Say the mayor of your town decides to declare Jesus lord and fire anyone who refuses to do so; or the principal of your local high school decides to read a fundamentalist prayer over the PA every morning; or the president declares the United States a Christian nation. Under the Constitution Restoration Act, that'll all be just fine.

Supporters of the bill, and chiefly the primary sponsor, state Senator Marian Walsh, argued that the public deserved financial transparency from their churches, synagogues, and other places of worship. But opponents said the requirements were too onerous and would have meant too much oversight over something the country's founders meant to put beyond the reach of government. "We are being asked by the proponents of this legislation to radically change our understanding of the role and liberty of religious institutions in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts," Byron Rushing, the second assistant majority leader and a leading opponent of the bill, said in a long and passionate speech on the floor.