1. Freedom of Religion Establishment and Free Exercise

2. 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

3. 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

4. Landmark Cases Engel v. Vitale, 1962- No school prayer Lemon v. Kurtzman, 1971- 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, 1993- 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, 2000- equal access to state funded educational resources to students in private and public schools

5. 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, 1970- Although Quaker church forbids military service, government can draft you in an alternative service- like hospital work.