Three hundred years or more ago the idea of separating the power of the Church from the power of the State was considered equally unimaginable.

We now have a society where even the slightest hint of collusion or open cooperation between the State and religion is squelched. Bishops don't bribe Senators. What's the point?

Without the ability to reward and punish using taxes, regulations, contract deals, and targeted legislation, what would a Senator have to offer a businessman in return for cash?

The establishment clause was written because the Founders had an acute knowledge of the abuses involved in state religions. I suspect that if the Founders had imagined it possible that their own Federal government would one day regulate every aspect of commerce down to the microscopic level and levy taxes often in excess of those paid by a typical serf, they might have put some preventative on that subject into the Constitution, too. We live and learn.

These things can be done. The important thing is to keep the basic principles in mind.

Maybe we just have to wait until a new frontier starts the idea of government from scratch again.