Freedom of Religion ATOS 11.63

Freedom of Religion

Source: Wikipedia

When our founding fathers and mothers came to this new land later to be called the United States, one of their main reasons was to escape control of the church of England. So, it is no surprise that, even after the Constitution was written, some leaders felt that we the people needed a bill of rights to protect specific freedoms.

The first of these rights, or amendments to the Constitution contains our freedom of religion.

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

But, what does this mean? There are some important words in there. Congress shall make no law respecting an ESTABLISHMENT of religion, or PROHIBITING the free exercise thereof. In other words, congress cannot make a law which "establishes" a religion placing it above another, or none at all.

In the case of the Board of Education of Kiryas Joel Village School District v. Grumet (1994), Justice David Souter, writing for the majority, concluded that "government should not prefer one religion to another, or religion to irreligion."

There are some people, known as separationists, such as Thomas Jefferson, who believe that there must be a "wall of separation" protecting those with religious beliefs. The Supreme Court has often used the following three principles to decide if this wall has been crossed.

1. the statute (or practice) has a secular purpose;

2. its principle or primary effect neither advances nor inhibits religion; and

3. it does not foster an excessive government entanglement with religion. In further cases, the Supreme Court has indicated that the separation could never be complete because there will always be some relationship between the state and religion.

There are others, called accommodationists who argue that we are a religious country based on the fact that we assume there is a "supreme being." for many conservatives, the Establishment Clause solely prevents the establishment of a state church, not public acknowledgments of God nor "developing policies that encourage general religious beliefs that do not favor a particular sect and are consistent with the secular government's goals."

"Freedom of religion means freedom to hold an opinion or belief, but not to take action in violation of social duties or subversive to good order," Chief Justice Waite wrote in Reynolds v. United States (1878). The U.S. Court found that while laws cannot interfere with religious belief and opinions, laws can be made to regulate some religious practices, for example human sacrifices.