So, on the one hand you have people claiming that Muslims want to impose Sharia and therefore invoke the 1st Amendment to prevent such actions.

Then, some of these same folks turn around and claim that the 1st Amendment doesn’t really mean separation of church and state.

That’s a textbook example of cognitive dissonance.

Buck wants to run up against more than 100 years of jurisprudence explicitly preserving separation of church and state, and more than 200 years since Jefferson utilized the term in his writings in defense of the 1st Amendment and religious freedom.

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.

Government actions granting some religious group benefits over those of other religious groups gives a imprimatur of legitimacy on those groups the government favors. That’s why we hold to a separation of church and state (and why the S.Ct. has done so repeatedly).

It’s to protect minorities against a majority (and one of the better ideas enshrined in the Constitution).