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Originally Posted by panteth4h2o
My understanding is that the wording of the Treaty of Tripoli has been the subject of much debate, especially when given the situation and context of that time. (i.e., the intentions not to go to war with the Muslim pirates, and the inability or desire to wage war with another foreign nation)
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The debate, or lack thereof, led to the ratification of the words of the Treaty, which when construed according to the "rules of interpretation" mean that "the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion." However, the exemption of religion from civil authority is consistent with the Baptist and Episcopalian Principle that,
The power of the civil magistrate extendeth to all men, as well Clergy as Laity, in all things temporal; but hath no authority in things purely spiritual. And we hold it to be the duty of all men who are professors of the gospel, to pay respectful obedience to the civil authority, regularly and legitimately constituted.
--Art. XXXVII. Of the Power of the Civil Magistrate; The Thirty-nine Articles of the American Episcopal Church adopted by the General Convention held at Trenton, New Jersey, Sept. 3–12, 1801
One could reasonably argue that the principle of no civil authority over religion in the U. S. Constitution was founded on a principle of the Baptist and Episcopalian religious creeds.
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While I am not 100% sure just how much Christianity played in the founding of this country's government and Constitution
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It makes no difference, with respect to the meaning of the Constitution, how much, or how little, Christianity played in the adoption of the document. It is a legal document to be interpreted according to the "rules of interpretation" that were a part of the common law in 1788, extending back to the 1300's.
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I'm also skeptical of people who claim that our government was completely secular, and hold to a theory that our government was eventually hijacked by over zealous Christians.
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Who advances that theory?
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...If that were to be completely true, I have a hard time understanding why it's been so hard to define exactly where that line between church and state begins and ends.
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That may be because you are unaware that there are two competing American traditions of belief regarding the proper role that religion should have in civil affairs, and that the proponents of these two traditions have been fighting over separation of church and state ever since the adoption of the Godless Constitution in 1788.
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Today, it seems as though anything and everything is being targeted as a violation of the "separation between church and state". Some of the stuff is slowly being taken out that was there when I was a child. You hear stories about the word "Christmas" being taken out of schools, or Christmas figures of Baby Jesus decorations now being forbidden in government offices. 
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It's easy to excuse government authority over religion when it is your religious opinions that are being encouraged by the civil magistrate. That was the case when Protestantism, and then Protestant/Catholicism, was the overwhelming majority in America. In 2007, that is no longer the case and views other than Protestant/Catholicism have significant political power and demand that all religion be exempt from the cognizance of civil authority.