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The 1 st Amendment: Church and State

The 1 st Amendment: Church and State. What examples of the “mixture” of church and state can you cite?. AP Government and Politics Chapter 18: Wilson Homework : Assignment 4 for Monday . The First Amendment and Religion.

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The 1 st Amendment: Church and State

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  1. The 1st Amendment: Church and State What examples of the “mixture” of church and state can you cite? AP Government and Politics Chapter 18: Wilson Homework: Assignment 4 for Monday

  2. The First Amendment and Religion Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, nor prohibiting the free exercise thereof… • “the separation of church and state” • Not in the Constitution • Questions of interest: • How high is Jefferson’s “wall of separation”? • What defines a “religion”?

  3. The Establishment Clause • The first phrase in the Bill of Rights – • what do you think it intended? Have we gone too far? Not far enough? • Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion…” • Applied to the states via the Everson vs. Board of Ed case • Tests used to determine whether government is “establishing a religion” • Coercion Test • Does the action “coerce” non-believers into belief? • Lemon Test • Secular purpose? • Neither aid nor inhibit religion? • Not excessively entangle gov and religion? • Endorsement Test • Could action appear to “endorse” religion? • Neutrality Test • government can be neither the ally nor adversary of religion. • Must treat religious groups the same as other similarly situated groups.

  4. The Free Exercise Clause • The Court in Reynolds vs. US establishes the idea that government can prevent citizens from practicing certain beliefs. • In the ruling, the court quoted a letter from Thomas Jefferson in which he stated that there was a distinction between religious belief and action that flowed from religious belief. Belief, he said, "lies solely between man and his God," therefore "the legislative powers of the government reach actions only, and not opinions." • The court argued that if polygamy was allowed, someone might eventually argue that human sacrifice was a necessary part of their religion, and "to permit this would be to make the professed doctrines of religious belief superior to the law of the land, and in effect to permit every citizen to become a law unto himself." • The Court believed the true spirit of the First Amendment was that Congress could NOT legislate against opinion, but COULD legislate against action. • What must the government show if it passes laws that limit your ability to practice your religion?

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