Remember to be shitty!

[xoxoxoBruce]

Many of the colonies passed laws to keep not-the-right-faith from holding public office. The others just put into practice by custom without any law.
I can see at the time, there was a lot of turmoil for a decade, and citizens(white&male) wanted people(white&male) they trusted running the show.
Unfortunately they chose religion as one of the benchmarks, which has since proven not to be a plus, and quite often a minus.
When anyone keeps reminding you of how they are God's buddy just think about Swaggart, Baker and Nixon.