"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." This is a key statement in the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States. Also known as the Establishment Clause, this amendment separates the church and the state. "At an absolute minimum, the Establishment Clause was intended to prohibit the federal government from declaring and financially supporting a national religion, such as existed in many other countries at the time of the nation's founding" ("Introduction to the Establishment Clause"). …
