What is Freedom of Religion?

The freedom of religion portion of the 1st Amendment is made up of the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause. 

 The 1st Amendment states that, Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.

What is the Establishment Clause?

The first provision for religious protection under the US Constitution is known as the Establishment Clause. 

It stands for the principle that the government should not force any particular religion(s) onto its citizens. 

What is the Free Exercise Clause?

The second provision of the 1st Amendment addressing religion is known as the Free Exercise Clause. 

It provides that the government cannot prohibit individuals from practicing any religion. 

The Free Exercise Clause has been the subject of significant litigation charging the government with discriminating against an individuals' religious practices. E

stablished in Lemon v. Kurtzman, the common law test for determining whether a government statute runs afoul of the Free Exercise Clause by unduly restricting the free exercise of religion is whether the law

• Has a secular purpose,
• What is the primary effect of the law, and
• Is there excessive entanglement with religion.

If a law or government action violates any one of the above elements, it is an unconstitutional infringement of the 1st Amendments religious protections.

What is the Secular Purpose test of the 1st Amendment?

Does the statute or government action affecting religion have a secular (non-religious) purpose? 

If the purpose of the statute or government action is to somehow promote any single or particular group of religions, the statute is unconstitutional. 

If the purpose of the statute or government action is not to promote religion, then move onto the next step.

• Example: If a government allows a manger scene on government property during Christmas and denies citizens the right to put a menorah or minaret, this action would not have a secular purpose.

Related Concepts

• What is the 1st Amendment?
• How does freedom of religion affect business practice?
• What is the protection of Freedom of Speech?
• Speech with Limited or No Protection
• What is Obscene Speech?
• What are Fighting Words?
• What is Commercial Speech?
• What is Defamation?
• What is Political Speech?
• Overbreadth and Overly Broad Laws
• Freedom of the Press
• Freedom of Assembly

What is the Primary Effect test of the 1st Amendment?

Is the primary effect of the statute or government action to advance or inhibit religion? 

Even if the purpose of the statute or action is secular, it may violate the Establishment Clause if the primary effect is to somehow advance or inhibit a religion among the citizens. 

The word primary is of particular importance. It leaves room for statutes or actions that only incidentally promote a particular religion. 

If the primary effect is something other than advancing or inhibiting religion, move on to the next step.

What is the Excessive Entanglement test of the 1st Amendment?

Does the statute cause excessive government entanglement with religion? 

Even if the statute only has a secondary effect upon religion, it may still result in too much government involvement with religious practice to comply with the Establishment Clause. This is a floating standard that greatly depends on the specific law and how it affects religious practice.

• Example: In Tilton v. Richardson (1971) the Supreme Court held that providing one-time grants to religious colleges and universities to build facilities did not violate the Establishment Clause, as there was not excessive entanglement with religion.