Freedom of Religion Establishment and Free Exercise

No Establishing Establishment Clause: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion (separation of church and state) Government cannot: – Coerce the conscience (not required to say pledge) – Mandate forms of religious expression (no school prayer) – Discriminate in favor of religion (erased publi Christianity) – Ally with churches or other religious organizations

No Impeding (allow Free Exercise) The Free Exercise Clause…”or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..” Government cannot: – Burden the conscience (not have to work on the sabbath) – Restrict religious expression (unless it’s criminal) – Discriminate against a religion (every church is tax exempt) – Invade the autonomy of a church

Landmark Cases Engel v. Vitale, No school prayer Lemon v. Kurtzman, Lemon Test- government can do things if secular (non-religious) purpose, neither advances or inhibits religion, fosters no entanglement between church and state Widmar v. Vincent, 1981 and Lamb’s Chapel v. Moriches, church groups must have equal access to public school facilities that are open to other groups. Wisconsin v. Yoder, 1972 Exemption for Amish to compulsory public school after 8 th grade Mitchell v. Helms, equal access to state funded educational resources to students in private and public schools

Limits to Free Exercise of Religion You cannot violate criminal laws – Polygamy is against law (Reynolds v. US, 1879) – Child labor (Prince v. Massachusetts, 1994) – Drugs (Oregon v. Smith, 1990) You cannot endanger the community – Vaccination- although your church may be opposed to vaccinations, government won’t allow it in schools- Jacobson v. Massachusetts, 1905 *might be updated – Poisonous snakes- Although your church practices snake handling, government won’t allow it (Bunn v. North Carolina, 1949) You cannot avoid the draft – Welsh v. US, Although Quaker church forbids military service, government can draft you in an alternative service- like hospital work.