Freedom of religion. "The right to choose a religion without interference by the government." How far is this liberty that our nation was originally formed upon stretch? This First amendment right does not secure everyway religion is practiced. You must look at the Constitution with the Establishment Clause along with the Free Exercise Clause, The United States Supreme Court decisions, and what is the difference between a United States citizen and a United States public official.
Under the first amendment of the Constitution, there is the Free Expression Clause and the Establishment Clause. The Free Expression clause gives the U.S. citizens the right to accept any religion and the engagement of religious ritual (2005, “Freedom of Religion”). …show more content…
To keep the law makers in check the Lemon Test was formed. The Lemon Test has three steps to check whether a law pertaining to religion is lawful for not. Step one: does the law have a secular purpose? Step two: The primary result being to favor a specific religious institution. Step three: The law having a large governmental entanglement with religion. If the proposed law contains any resemblance to these three steps, the law is considered unconstitutional. An example of the Lemon Test being put into action is the case of Estate of Thornton V. Caldor 472 U.S. 703 (1985). This case was religious groups seeking a law to protect their right to observe their particular Sabbaths without consequences from their employer. However such law would violate the third step of the Lemon Test because the state would have to determine what religious activities would be included under observing a Sabbath. This would result in too much government entanglement …show more content…
In Kentucky there was displays of the protestant ten commandments along with other documents referring to Judeo-Christian beliefs. This was challenged and ruled unconstitutional due to the monuments, which were in court houses and schools, did not contain pieces from other religions and it was a clear promotion of religion. In Texas, there were six foot tall monuments containing the Ten Commandments and other Judeo-Christian symbols. This was ruled constitutional because the context of these monuments were clearly secular (2005: “The Ten
Under the first amendment of the Constitution, there is the Free Expression Clause and the Establishment Clause. The Free Expression clause gives the U.S. citizens the right to accept any religion and the engagement of religious ritual (2005, “Freedom of Religion”). …show more content…
To keep the law makers in check the Lemon Test was formed. The Lemon Test has three steps to check whether a law pertaining to religion is lawful for not. Step one: does the law have a secular purpose? Step two: The primary result being to favor a specific religious institution. Step three: The law having a large governmental entanglement with religion. If the proposed law contains any resemblance to these three steps, the law is considered unconstitutional. An example of the Lemon Test being put into action is the case of Estate of Thornton V. Caldor 472 U.S. 703 (1985). This case was religious groups seeking a law to protect their right to observe their particular Sabbaths without consequences from their employer. However such law would violate the third step of the Lemon Test because the state would have to determine what religious activities would be included under observing a Sabbath. This would result in too much government entanglement …show more content…
In Kentucky there was displays of the protestant ten commandments along with other documents referring to Judeo-Christian beliefs. This was challenged and ruled unconstitutional due to the monuments, which were in court houses and schools, did not contain pieces from other religions and it was a clear promotion of religion. In Texas, there were six foot tall monuments containing the Ten Commandments and other Judeo-Christian symbols. This was ruled constitutional because the context of these monuments were clearly secular (2005: “The Ten