The First Amendment

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Last Updated By Endtime Prophecy Net : July 29, 2011



Published On : December 24, 2000

Last Updated : January 3, 2009

Taken from : http://www.schoolprayer.com



The opening two clauses of the First Amendment deal
precisely with the issue of what the government can and
cannot do with respect to religion. The Establishment
Clause, which reads:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of
religion . . .

guarantees the separation of religion from government, and
the Free Exercise Clause:

or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;

prohibits the government from interfering with individuals'
rights to worship as they choose. Together these principles
protect our freedom to practice any religion or no religion
at all.

Religious freedom is one of the most important traditions
and constitutional rights we have. This right, however, has
been contested and clarified in our courts which to this day
continue to define where to draw the line that separates
church and state. The body of law on the church/state
relationship has been evolving since the Bill of Rights was
ratified in 1791. Yet it was not until the 1940s that the
Supreme Court began interpreting whether a particular policy
or law violated the First Amendment with respect to
religion. see school prayer rulings

THE ESTABLISHMENT CLAUSE

When the First Amendment was adopted, most of the original
thirteen colonies still had official "established" churches.
In much of New England, the Congregational Church was
established, and throughout the South, the Anglican. With
the power of the government behind them, these denominations
often persecuted the members of various minority religions.
Baptists, Quakers, Jews and others were denied the right to
hold public office and were required to pay taxes to support
the established church. By the time the Constitution was
framed, many of its authors had come to believe strongly in
"disestablishment." For example, Thomas Jefferson wrote of
the need for "a wall of separation between church and
state," and in 1785 James Madison wrote in his Memorial and
Remonstrance that "[r]eligion is not helped by
establishment, but is hurt by it." In 1791, when the Bill of
Rights was adopted, it reflected this view. More than a
century and a half later, in 1971, the Supreme Court
decision in Lemon v. Kurtzman established a three-part test
for determining whether a law or government policy has
breached the wall between church and state. The Lemon test,
still used by the courts today, asks: (1) whether the
government's action has a religious purpose; (2) whether the
primary effect of the government's action is to advance or
endorse religion; and (3) whether the government's action
fosters excessive government "entanglement" with religion.
If the answer to any of these questions is "yes," then the
law or policy violates the Establishment Clause. see school
prayer rulings, Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971)

THE FREE EXERCISE CLAUSE

The roots of the Free Exercise Clause reach back to the
country's early colonial history. Roger Williams, who fled
religious persecution in England and, in 1644, founded Rhode
Island as a haven for religious minorities, said it was
God's command that "a permission of the most Paganish,
Jewish, Turkish, or Antichristian consciences and worships,
be granted to all men in all Nations and Countries." In
spite of this sentiment, intolerance has occasionally
threatened religious minorities' freedom of worship. The
Supreme Court, therefore, beginning in 1940, handed down a
series of decisions that formed a bulwark of protection for
religious liberty. In 1940, the Court upheld the right of
Jehovah's Witnesses to proselytize on a street corner
(Cantwell v. Connecticut). In 1943, the Supreme Court ruled
that Jehovah's Witness children could not be forced to
salute the flag in public schools (West Virginia v.
Barnette). In 1963, the Court held that a Seventh Day
Adventist could not be denied unemployment insurance because
she refused to work on Saturdays (Sherbert v. Verner). And
in 1972, the Court overturned the conviction of an Amish
parent who refused to send his children to school beyond
eighth grade (Wisconsin v. Yoder). Not all religious
practice is protected, however, even though the freedom to
believe is absolute. To determine whether a particular
religious ritual is covered by the Free Exercise Clause, the
Supreme Court developed a test: A person or group must show
(1) that the ritual is motivated by "sincere religious
belief," and (2) that the state has imposed a "substantial
burden" on the practice. If these two criteria are met, the
government must accommodate the religious practice unless
the government can show that it has a "compelling interest"
in restricting the practice, and that its restriction is the
most lenient way possible (the "least restrictive means") of
serving that interest.

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