<P> Again, it provided in general that all tax - paying freemen and their sons shall be able to vote, and that no "man, who acknowledges the being of a God, be justly deprived or abridged of any civil right as a citizen, on account of his religious sentiments or peculiar mode of religious worship ." </P> <P> Article Six of the United States Constitution provides that "no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States". Prior to the adoption of the Bill of Rights, this was the only mention of religion in the Constitution . </P> <P> The first amendment to the US Constitution states "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof" The two parts, known as the "establishment clause" and the "free exercise clause" respectively, form the textual basis for the Supreme Court's interpretations of the "separation of church and state" doctrine . Three central concepts were derived from the 1st Amendment which became America's doctrine for church - state separation: no coercion in religious matters, no expectation to support a religion against one's will, and religious liberty encompasses all religions . In sum, citizens are free to embrace or reject a faith, any support for religion - financial or physical - must be voluntary, and all religions are equal in the eyes of the law with no special preference or favoritism . </P> <P> The First Congress' deliberations show that its understanding of the separation of church and state differed sharply from that of their contemporaries in Europe . As 19th century Union Theological Seminary historian Philip Schaff observed: </P>

The wall of seperation between church and state is best found in what clause of the constitution