establishment

The Establishment Clause

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Context

The Establishment Clause in the First Amendment addresses the coexistence of the multiple prominent religions in American history. In the creation of the Constitution, James Madison, the principal author of the First Amendment, believed it best for the country if the government abstained from establishing a national religion and unjustly favoring specific religions. The clause reacts to the abuse of governmental power to promote religious beliefs and the forcing of spiritual practices in many southern colonies.

Common Interpretation

Most jurists believe the Establishment Clause prohibits the government from interfering with religious institutions if the action directly benefits one religion over others.

Matters of Debate

The main interpretations of the Establishment Clause either advocate for the separation of church and state or the equal support of all religions. Marci A. Hamilton, a supporter of the separation, claims that integrating religion with the government could lead to religious tyranny and abuse of power. She quotes influential American figures like Benjamin Franklin who expresses the hypocrisy of Christian sects which denounce persecution but still practice it against other groups and among themselves. In contrast, Michael McConnell supports impartiality to any one group instead of eliminating religion from the government because it allows all religions to flourish without having a dominant powerhouse. Under this ideology, he explains how the 2002 Supreme Court case Zelman v. Simmons-Harris was beneficial to the state and religion because it enabled the funding of religious schools and allowed families a greater range of choices for education. The case examined Ohio’s school voucher program which provided financial aid to families based on necessity, but the problem was that a majority of the aid went to religious schools. The final ruling governed that the program didn’t violate the Establishment Clause because the use of the financial aid was decided by the families, not the government. This case demonstrates that a violation of the Establishment Clause would require a direct inclination toward a religious school or religion.

Significance

The Establishment Clause was made to prevent the abuse and pressure of religion which contrasts to the European notions displayed in the Tempest. In the play, the Europeans were portrayed to be pushing their religion on the natives who are represented by Caliban. They gave no regard to his culture and justified their colonization with religion. The clause attempts to ensure the control of religion isn’t forced onto any citizen’s freedom. In my opinion, impartiality to religion is a more beneficial approach because it follows the clause in that no one religion is dominant, but it also allows the government to support religious freedom and institutes just like other public programs. If the clause were to be amended, I would suggest that the relationship between religion and the government be made clearer, perhaps with a portion signaling the main goal of the clause is to prevent preference of religion and not neglect. I think clarity of the purpose of the Establishment Clause can eliminate arguments and segway into the progression of religious freedom.

Shreya Ranjan- The Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses

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The Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses

Created by James Madison as part of the First Amendment, the Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses are now crucial parts of the American right to freedom. However, they weren’t always considered this way: America, since its founding, has been predicated on the concept of religious freedom. Indeed, many of the original colonies had been composed of immigrants who had fled from Europe to escape religious persecution, such as the Quakers in Pennsylvania.

The Establishment and Free Practice Clauses were created to ban the implementation of an official national religion (it’s important to note that under the Establishment Clause, states were still allowed to have official religions, and some continued to do so until the 1830s (1)), to prevent congress from unfairly favoring one religion over another, and to guarantee citizens the ability to practice their respective religions.

The founders included these clauses to prevent the tyranny which would inevitably form out of the union of church and state, as well as to guarantee what was considered the “inalienable right” of citizens to free religious practice. Interpretations of the Free Exercise and Establishment Clauses have often been specific, especially within the rulings of the Supreme Court: the juxtaposition of cases such as Kennedy v Bremerton School District and Santa Fe School District v Doe makes these differences clear.

Interestingly enough, both cases involved similar pretenses; Kennedy sued the Bremerton School District for violating his Free Practice Clause rights after the District ordered him to stop praying before football games, whilst the Santa Fe School District was sued for organizing student led prayers over loudspeakers before football games and thus violating the Establishment Clause.

In the case of Kennedy, the Supreme Court sided with the plaintiffs, writing that since Kennedy’s prayers were non-mandatory and discreet, they did not violate the Establishment Clause. However, the court noted that the District’s order was in violation of the Free Exercise Clause. Nearly 20 years earlier, the court ruled against the Santa Fe School District, saying that prayers conducted over the loudspeaker were in violation of the Establishment Clause since they were organized and affiliated with the public school and, therefore, the government.

The distinction between government affiliated prayer and private prayer lends an interesting weight to these clauses, as the dilemma of separation between church and state has fascinated society for many years. Paralleling the Establishment Clause was the dechristianization of society during the French Revolution, wherein symbols of religion were removed throughout France. Interestingly enough, these sentiments continue today into modern French society— oftentimes, steps taken to eradicate the symbols of religion in public society have been targeted and Islamophobic (2).

This targeting raises the question of where the line should be drawn to separate government-affiliated and private religious symbolism: in the case of Doe, there were arguments that since the prayer was student-led, it did not violate the First Amendment. However, general consensus does seem to indicate that prayer conducted over a loudspeaker is considered public and, therefore, was in violation of the Establishment Clause.

 

Footnotes:

                      (1) Marc A. Clauson, “Religious freedom since the First Amendment and early state constitutions,” Constituting America, accessed June 1, 2023, https://constitutingamerica.org/religious-freedom-since-first-amendment-early-state-constitutions-guest-essayist-marc- clauson/#:~:text=Massachusetts%20was%20the%20last%20state,well%20as%20the%20national%20government.

                     (2)  Rachel Donadio, “Why Is France so Afraid of God?,” The Atlantic, November 22, 2021, accessed June 1, 2023, https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/12/france-god-religion-secularism/620528/.

Amalia – The Establishment Clause of the First Amendment

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The Establishment Clause of the Bill of Rights was an agreement of the populous that there should be no federally established church. This decision was reached because before the revolution the Church of England was federally mandated in the southern colonies, while the northern colonies had their Puritan establishments. These different establishments bred dissenters, who were often punished for preaching without a license or refusing to pay taxes to a church they disagreed with. The topic of religion caused conflict in the years before the revolution, dividing the people of this new country instead of bringing them together under one previously imagined, now real, community and shared identity.

The Establishment Clause of the Bill of Rights is commonly understood to have prohibited the government from establishing a state-mandated or federal religion for the nation, effectively separating church and state in the United States. 

This clause has been publicly understood to have separated the church and state in the United States, however many people have had interpretations of this clause as it regards government funding and government-sponsored prayer. Many of the matters of debate that spawn from this clause connect to religion and how it should interact with public education, all according to how the courts interpret the constitution. In relation to government funding, some argue the government must remain neutral between religious and non-religious institutions that provide education or other social services. Others argue that taxpayer funds shouldn’t be given to religious institutions if they might be used to further religious ideas because it violates the separation between church and state that the clause set in place. Through Everson v. Board of Education (1947) and Board of Education v. Allen (1968) all students of religious schools gained access to transportation and textbook funds. As well, Rosenberger v. University of Virginia (1995) deemed it unconstitutional under free speech and free exercise principles to exclude otherwise eligible recipients from government assistance because their activity is religious in nature. On the topic of government-sanctioned prayer the courts determined it unconstitutional for public schools to lead students in religious activities, even voluntary in Engel v. Vitale (1962) and Abington School District v. Schempp (1963). These decisions, though controversial to much of the public, were not to the Justices: it would have been seen as government sponsored religion which goes against the Establishment Clause’s separation between church and state.

The Establishment Clause protects citizens rights to practicing their religion freely, without persecution, also ensuring that the government of the United States isn’t biased towards certain religions. This clause ensures that the obligatory religion that the colonists experienced under the monarchy could not happen in their new nation. The Establishment Clause also protects those facing religious persecution. With religious tolerance being written as an amendment to the Constitution, America became a place of refuge for those experiencing religious oppression; many Jewish people in the early 20th century who fled pogroms (planned massacres of Jewish people in eastern Europe) were able to make a safe life for themselves and their families in the United States. The religious tolerance that the Establishment Clause implemented has had a long lasting impact on the peoples and cultures that make up America to this day as well as how cases pertaining to religion are handled in federal Courts.