<P> Article Six of the United States Constitution also specifies that "no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States ." </P> <P> Jefferson's metaphor of a wall of separation has been cited repeatedly by the U.S. Supreme Court . In Reynolds v. United States (1879) the Court wrote that Jefferson's comments "may be accepted almost as an authoritative declaration of the scope and effect of the (First) Amendment ." In Everson v. Board of Education (1947), Justice Hugo Black wrote: "In the words of Thomas Jefferson, the clause against establishment of religion by law was intended to erect a wall of separation between church and state ." </P> <P> In contrast to separationism, the Supreme Court in Zorach v. Clauson upheld accommodationism, holding that the nation's "institutions presuppose a Supreme Being" and that government recognition of God does not constitute the establishment of a state church as the Constitution's authors intended to prohibit . As such, the Court has not always interpreted the constitutional principle as absolute, and the proper extent of separation between government and religion in the U.S. remains an ongoing subject of impassioned debate . </P> <P> Many early immigrant groups traveled to America to worship freely, particularly after the English Civil War and religious conflict in France and Germany . They included nonconformists like the Puritans, who were Protestant Christians fleeing religious persecution from the Anglican King of England . Despite a common background, the groups' views on religious toleration were mixed . While some such as Roger Williams of Rhode Island and William Penn of Pennsylvania ensured the protection of religious minorities within their colonies, others like the Plymouth Colony and Massachusetts Bay Colony had established churches . The Dutch colony of New Netherland established the Dutch Reformed Church and outlawed all other worship, though enforcement was sparse . Religious conformity was desired partly for financial reasons: the established Church was responsible for poor relief, putting dissenting churches at a significant disadvantage . <--- This, along with many other statements should be footnoted, as it seems more like an opinion than a fact.---> </P>

What is the law of separation of church and state