By Samuel Goldman, The Week

Everyone knows the Constitution prohibits Congress from any “law respecting an establishment of religion.” In the conventional interpretation, that means not only that church and state must be legally separate, but also that particular sects or denominations shouldn’t enjoy advantages denied to their rivals.

The reality of church-state relations isn’t quite that simple. When it was ratified, the First Amendment was understood to protect state-level religious establishments. Rather than being snuffed out by the Bill of Rights, these survived for decades. Massachusetts was the last to disestablish in 1833. And it was around a century after the demise of state establishments that the Supreme Court began to force state and local governments to disentangle themselves from less obvious forms of church-state partnership and favoritism.

Ironically, a different kind of establishment was emerging as the vestiges of old-fashioned religion were being eliminated. Beginning in the 1920s, professional associations like the American Bar Association (ABA) and American Medical Association (AMA) developed a new role in setting standards for education and professional conduct. Originally based on voluntary compliance, the associations’ authority was formalized after World War II. Legislation including the Higher Education Act of 1965 essentially deputized them to determine which institutions could participate in federal programs.

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