It is said that the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment means at least that "[n] either a state nor the Federal Government*** can pass laws which aid one religion, aid all religions, or prefer one religion over another

As such, the Establishment Clause "was intended to erect a wall of separation between Church and State."

—sustaining local ordinance authorizing all parents to deduct from their state tax returns the costs of transporting their children to school on public buses

The "touchstone" of the Establishment Clause is the principle that the "First Amendment mandates governmental neutrality between religion and religion, and between religion and nonreligion."

—holding that the Establishment Clause applies to the states through the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment

"The `establishment of religion'clause of the First Amendment means at least this: Neither a state nor the Federal Government can set up a church. Neither can pass laws which aid one religion, aid all religions, or prefer one religion over another***. No tax in any amount, large or small, can be levied to support any religious activities or institutions, whatever they may be …

Finally, our reluctance to address constitutional issues in this context is significantly tempered because we are concerned with a potential violation of the separation between religious matters and the judiciary guaranteed by the First Amendment. "The First Amendment has erected a wall between church and state. That wall must be kept high and impregnable. We could …

In attempting to recast Madison's opposition as having principally been targeted against "governmental preferences for particular religious faiths," ante, at 4 (emphasis in original), Justice Thomas wishes to wage a battle that was lost long ago, for "this Court has rejected unequivocally the contention that the Establishment Clause forbids only governmental preference of …

Nonbelievers, Presbyterians, or the members of any other faith, because of their faith, or lack of it, from receiving the benefits of public welfare legislation. While we do not mean to intimate that a state could not provide transportation only to children attending public schools, we must be careful, in protecting the citizens of New Jersey against state-established churches, to …

The Court recounted the history of religious divisiveness and persecution in England and in the early colonies, concluding that the Establishment Clause erects a “wall of separation between Church and State” that would forbid the use of public funds to support religious institutions

[CITATION] Ewald v. Committee for Public Education