The Religion Clauses Flashcards
Is state action required
Yes
Purposes of Religious Clauses
- Bar national government from establishing an official religion
- Prevent government interference with individual religious beliefs
Different views of history and purposes of establishment clause
Wall of Separation view = preserve a private space for individuals to make voluntary choices about religious belief and commitment free of government influence
Non-preferential view = bar the national government from preferring any religion over all others
Sherbert v. Verner*
Sherbert test - requiring states to afford religious exemptions from regulation that would otherwise deny unemployment compensation.
Employment Division, Dept. of Human Resources of Oregon v. Smith
- peyote case
Under the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment, a state may constitutionally refuse to carve out an exception from its generally applicable criminal laws for religious practices.
Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah, FL
A city ordinance prohibiting ritualistic animal sacrifices violates the First Amendment’s protection of the free exercise of religion.
Locke v. Davey
Under the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment, a state may constitutionally deny government scholarship funding for the pursuit of devotional theology degrees.
What is used for establishment clause?
The lemon test
The lemon test
(1) the law must have a secular legislative purpose
(2) its principle or primary effect must be one that neither advances nor inhibits religion, and
(3) the law must not foster excessive government entanglement with religion
Example of the lemon test
Mueller v. Allen
Mueller v. Allen
MN’s law allowing taxpayers to deduct certain educational expenses including textbooks other than religious books designed to inculcate religious doctrines is constitutional. Application of Lemon test:
1. It has a secular purpose to defray educational costs,
2. Its primary effect was not to advance the nonsecular aims of private schools because it is one deduction among many and it is available to public and private school attendees, and
3. There is no excessive entanglement with the State in religion because payments to religious schools are the result of private decisions by parents.
Lee v. Weisman
Under the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, the government may not invite clergy to deliver prayers at a public school graduation ceremony.
Kennedy v. Bremerton
Kennedy v. Bremerton – went out to 50 yard line after game and prayed. Everyone else was visiting, celebrating, etc.
The court was trying to see if this was like the other cases (where the court struck down prayer in school)
This was after the game, he went out himself,
McCreary v. ACLU
In order to avoid violation of the Establishment Clause, the government must integrate an action’s religious purpose with its secular purpose and neutrally treat the religious and secular themes.
