BOR_ FREEDOM OF RELIGION Flashcards
What is the provision on non-establishment of religion?
No law shall be made respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. The free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship, without discrimination or preference, shall forever be allowed. No religious test shall be required for the exercise of civil or political rights. (Sec. 5, Art. III, 1987 Constitution)
What is the provision on charitable institutions, churches and parsonages or convents appurtenant thereto, mosques, non-profit cemeteries etc?
Charitable institutions, churches and parsonages or convents appurtenant thereto, mosques, non-profit cemeteries, and all lands, buildings, and improvements, actually, directly, and exclusively used for religious, charitable, or educational purposes shall be exempt from taxation. (Sec. 28(3), Art. VI, 1987 Constitution)
Give the provision on sects, church, denomination, sectarian institution, or system of religion, or of any priest, preacher, minister, or other religious teacher or dignitary
No public money or property shall be appropriated, applied, paid, or employed, directly or indirectly, for the use, benefit, or support of any sect, church, denomination, sectarian institution, or system of religion, or of any priest, preacher, minister, or other religious teacher, or dignitary as such, except when such priest, preacher, minister, or dignitary is assigned to the armed forces, or to any penal institution, or government orphanage or leprosarium. (Sec. 29(2), Art. VI, 1987 Constitution)
What is a purely ecclesiastical affair to which
the State cannot meddle?
An ecclesiastical affair is “one that concerns doctrine, creed, or form of worship of the church, or the adoption and enforcement within a religious association of needful laws and regulations for the government of the membership, and the power of excluding from such associations those deemed not worthy of membership.”
To be concrete, examples of this so-called ecclesiastical affairs to which the State cannot meddle are proceedings for excommunication, ordinations of religious ministers, administration of sacraments and other activities with attached religious significance. (Pastor Dionisio V. Austria v. NLRC)
Petitioner is a religious minister of the Seventh Day Adventist (SDA). He was dismissed because of alleged misappropriation of denominational funds, willful breach of trust, serious misconduct, gross and habitual neglect of duties and commission of an offense against the person of his employer’s duly authorized representative. He filed an illegal termination case against the SDA before the labor arbiter. The SDA filed a motion to dismiss invoking the doctrine of separation of Church and State.
NO. Where what is involved is the relationship of the church as an employer and the minister as an employee and has no relation whatsoever with the practice of faith, worship or doctrines of the church, i.e., the minister was not excommunicated or expelled from the membership of the congregation but was terminated from employment, it is a purely secular affair. Consequently, the suit may not be dismissed invoking the doctrine of separation of church and the state. (Pastor Dionisio V. Austria v. NLRC, G.R. No. 124382, 16 Aug. 1999)
Valmores strictly observes the Sabbath as a sacred day. As such, he refrains from non-religious undertakings from sunset of Friday to sunset of Saturday. However, in one instance, petitioner Valmores was unable to take his Histo-Pathology laboratory examination. Despite his request for exemption, no accommodation was given. As a result, Valmores received a failing grade of 5. Valmores seeks to enforce the 2010 CHED Memorandum. Notwithstanding the lapse of several months, no written or formal response was ever given by Achacoso. He then brings his cause before the Court and prayed for the issuance of a writ of mandamus against Achacoso. Will the petition prosper?
YES. The enforcement of the 2010 CHED Memorandum is compellable by writ of mandamus.
Mandamus is employed to compel the performance of a ministerial duty by a tribunal, board, officer, or person. A plain reading of the memorandum reveals the ministerial nature of the duty imposed upon HEIs.
Its policy is crystal clear: a student’s religious obligations take precedence over his academic responsibilities, consonant with the constitutional guarantee of free exercise and enjoyment of religious worship.
Accordingly, the CHED imposed a positive duty on all HEIs to exempt students, as well as faculty members, from academic activities in case such activities interfere with their religious obligations.
Clearly, under the 2010 CHED Memorandum, HEIs do not possess absolute discretion to grant or deny requests for exemption of affected students
What is the provision on the Non-Establishment Clause?
No law shall be made respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. (Sec. 5, Art. III, 1987 Constitution)
What is voluntarism?
Voluntarism, as a social value, means that the growth of a religious sect as a social force must come from the voluntary support of its members because of the belief that both spiritual and secular society will benefit if religions are allowed to compete on their own intrinsic merit without benefit of official patronage. (Bernas, 2011)
What is accommodation?
Accommodations are government policies that take
religion specifically into account not to promote the
governments favored form of religion, but to allow
individuals and groups to exercise their religion
without hindrance. Their purpose or effect
therefore is to remove a burden on, or facilitate the
exercise of, a persons or institutions religion.
(Estrada v. Escritor, AM P-02-1651, 04 Aug. 2003)
Give Constitutionally created exceptions to the non-establishment clause.
- Prohibition on appropriation of public money
or property for the use, benefit or support of
any religion. (Sec. 29, Art. VI, 1987 Constitution) - Exemption from taxation of properties actually,
directly and exclusively used for religious
purposes. (Sec. 28 (3), Art. VI, 1987 Constitution) - Optional religious instruction in public
elementary and high schools. (Sect. 3(3), Art.
XIV, 1987 Constitution)
Give the prohibited acts as a result of the Non-Establishment Clause?
The non-establishment clause states that the State CANNOT:
1. Set up a church;
2. Pass laws which aid one, all religions or prefer one over another;
3. Force or influence a person to go to or stay away from church against his will or force him to profess a belief or disbelief in any religion;
4. Punish a person for entertaining or professing religious beliefs or disbeliefs, for church attendance or non-attendance;
5. Collect tax in any amount, can be levied to support any religious activity or institution whatever they may adopt to teach or practice religion;
6. Openly or secretly participate in the affairs of any religious organization or group or vice versa. (Everson v. Board of Education)
What is Benevolent Neutrality?
Benevolent neutrality is an approach that looks further than the secular purposes of government action and examines the effect of these actions on religious exercise.
Benevolent neutrality recognizes the religious nature of the Filipino people and the elevating influence of religion in society; at the same time, it acknowledges that the government must pursue its secular goals.
In pursuing these goals, however, it might adopt laws or actions of general applicability which inadvertently burden religious exercise.
Benevolent neutrality gives room for accommodation of these religious exercises as required by the Free Exercise Clause. It allows these breaches in the wall of separation to uphold religious liberty, which after all is the integral purpose of the religion clauses. (Estrada v. Escritor, A.M. No. P-02-1651, 04 Aug. 2003)
Who is a CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTOR?
An “individual who has claimed the right to refuse
to perform military service on the grounds of
freedom of thought, conscience, and/or religion.”
(Art. 18, International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights)
What are the Requisites for one to be considered a
conscientious objector (Op-Re-S)
- The person is Opposed to war in any form;
- He must show that this opposition is based upon Religious training and belief; and
- And he must show that this objection is Sincere. (Clay v. United States)
Angel, a court interpreter, is living with a man
not her husband. Ben filed an administrative
case against Angel as he believes that she is
committing an immoral act that tarnishes the
image of the court.
But as a member of the religious sect known as the Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Watch Tower and Bible Tract Society, their conjugal arrangement is in conformity with their religious beliefs. In fact, after ten years of living together, she executed on July 28, 1991 a “Declaration of Pledging Faithfulness.”
Should Angel’s right to religious freedom carve out an exception from the prevailing jurisprudence on illicit relations for which government employees are held administratively liable?
YES. Angel’s conjugal arrangement cannot be penalized as she has made out a case for exemption from the law based on her fundamental right to freedom of religion.
The Court recognizes that the State’s interests must be upheld in order that freedom – including religious freedom – may be enjoyed. In the area of religious exercise as a preferred freedom, however, man stands accountable to an authority higher than the State, and so the State interest sought to be upheld must be so compelling that its violation will erode the very fabric of the State that will also protect the freedom.
In the absence of showing that such State interest exists, man must be allowed to subscribe to the Infinite.
Furthermore, our Constitution adheres to the Benevolent Neutrality approach that gives room for accommodation of religious exercises as required by the Free Exercise Clause. The benevolent neutrality doctrine allows accommodation of morality based on religion, provided it does not offend compelling state interests. (Estrada v. Escritor)
