Justice360° - Legal Bulletin:  Freedom of Religion

The first amendment to the US constitution states that “Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof….” This language is broken down into two main components, the first being the ‘Establishment clause’ and the second being the ‘Free Exercise clause’. The Establishment clause prohibits the government from favoring one religion over another, or establishing a national belief system. In more modern cases this clause of the first Amendment has also been held to prohibit government from become excessively involved or entangled in religion. The Free Exercise is read to allow all US citizens the right to free practice of their religion. However, this free practice extends only completely to beliefs, so that no one can ever pass a law harassing those who believe in a particular religion. With regards to action, there are limitations on the extent to which free practice will be allowed. For example, the Supreme Court has held that a ban on polygamy is allowable.

In determining whether a law violates the Establishment clause of the 1st Amendment, court created a test that looked at: A. Whether the law had a secular purpose, B. Whether the law advanced or inhibited religion, and C. If the law fostered and excessive entanglement of government and religion. Though this test is vague, it attempts to prevent laws from being passed that attempt to help or hurt one religious group over others, or religious belief in general over non-religious belief.

While there are multiple details that play into whether government is deemed to be ‘establishing’ a religion through its actions or prohibiting the free exercise of religion, one of the questions that arises is how to define religion. Early on in US history this was a difficult question, but at this point in time any “sincerely held belief” will be counted as a religious belief. This provides grey area over which there has been much dispute, but what is clear for Muslims is that their religious beliefs are obviously included when it comes to bringing claims for discrimination, harassment, and similar issues regarding religion.

The author of this article can be reached via email at Justice360@muslimcongress.org. For more information about Justice360, visit http://www.muslimcongress.org/360.

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