Talk:Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Contents |
[edit] This shouldn't be merged
The free exercise clause and the establishment clause are two entirely different clauses in the First Amendment. Maybe they could both be merged together into an article on the First Amendment, but free exercise certainly doesn't belong under the establishment clause. --Cyde 21:45, 30 November 2005 (UTC)
Simply, each clause of the Constitution should have its own section; Separation of church and state in the United States, while related, is not mentioned in the US Constitution. Assawyer 02:23, 8 February 2006 (UTC)
[edit] This should be merged
While the two clauses are different they cannot be understood separately from one another. I contend they compliment and to discuss oopeans coming to North America were escaping religious wars. Yes, some did establish religious communities, colonies and states. But others did not, South Carolina for one.
The horror of religious wars on the continent of Europe during and following the Reformation begged the question, "How do we avoid these Princes killing us in the name of the Christian Faith?" The answer lay in creating a tension between "free Excercise" (the power of the State cannot dictate religion to its citizens) and non-establishment (the State will not establish any of the religions).
Strict "separation of Church and State" folks may disagree but the answer to keeping our current "culture war" from becoming a religious war is to recognize that religion (all religions!) must be honored by the State, not avoided as if it were a fatal disease. Religion should be for the State like medicine - none of it and you are sick; too much and you die.
[edit] Do we really need that?
The part about "Student Research": it seems a little... out of place with both topic and wording. 68.39.174.238 05:04, 19 May 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Sherbert Test: Another merger proposal...
...but I think this one's more reasonable. The test seems to be essentially a strict scrutiny (compelling interest) test applied to the Free Exercise clause. I talked this over with Cyde months ago when he and I were the only one's who'd edited Sherbert Test, but I never got around to merging them. --Kchase02 (T) 04:44, 5 June 2006 (UTC)
- The Sherbert Test should be in the article, however I believe having in the article about the case - Sherbert v. Verner - would be the more prudant thing to do. Such as how the Lemon Test redirects to and is found in the Lemon v. Kurtzman article. --Assawyer 16:27, 5 June 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Compelling Interest
Why does compelling interest redirect here? Doesn't the doctrine apply in situations other than the free exercise clause? Commander Nemet 07:16, 7 June 2006 (UTC)
- Yes. As I understand it compelling interest is part of strict scrutiny, a level of protection under the Equal Protection Clause. I changed it to strict scrutiny. If someone knows more, please redirect it elsewhere. --Kchase02 T 07:44, 7 June 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Mormon polygamy
- Congress banned polygamy when the practice was a central tenet of the Mormon religion. The Supreme Court sustained the constitutionality of the criminal prohibition in Reynolds v. United States (1878). The defendant proved that he was a member of the Mormon Church; that he was a believer in its doctrines; that it was an accepted precept of the Church, fortified by books thought to be of divine origin, that male members were saddled with a duty to practice polygamy; and, that a failure or refusal to do so would be punished by damnation in the life to come. Chief Justice Morrison Waite denied that the Free Exercise Clause was transgressed by the defendant's conviction.
- The chief justice reasoned that, "Congress was deprived of all legislative power over mere opinion, but was left free to reach activities in violation of social duties or subversive of good order." He added: "To permit [a religious motivation to justify non-compliance] would be to make 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." Associate Justice Antonin Scalia endorsed Reynolds in Employment Division v. Smith (1990) in denying the religious use of peyote a Free Exercise Clause exemption from Oregon's anti-drug laws. [1]
Is this information already in Wikipedia somewhere? If not, should it go here? --Uncle Ed 13:32, 17 October 2006 (UTC)
