separation of church and state

One reason that separation of religion and government worked in America is that from the beginning the United States was made up of numerous, mostly Protestant, sects. The Puritans dominated in Massachusetts, the Anglicans in Virginia, the Catholics were concentrated in Maryland, and so on. No group was strong enough to subdue all the others, and so it was in every group's interest to "live and let live." The ingenuity of the American solution is evident in Voltaire's remark that where there is one religion, you have tyranny; where there are two, you have religious war; but where there are many, you have freedom.