The guarantee of freedom of (and from) religion in America - Assignment Example

The Guarantee of Freedom of/and from Religion in America What sort of activity violates the Establishment Clause and what sort of activity violates free exercise clause of the Bill of Rights of our constitution? The Establishment clause is a provision that prohibits the government or state from interfering with individual religious beliefs. For example, the government is prohibited from enacting laws that aid any religion or establish an official state religion. All this is in a bid to achieve the separation of the state and church at both the state and national levels of government. In the Everson v. Board Education, the court provided a list of activities that violate the establishment and are prohibited by the First Amendment (National Paralegal College 1. They include: the setting up of a state church; the passing of laws which particularly aid one religion or aid religions generally; the forcing of or influencing of persons to attend or not attend church; the punishing of individuals for ascribing to particular beliefs or disbeliefs or for not attending or attending church; the levying of taxes to support religious activities or institutions and; the participation of government in religious organizations or participation in government by religious organizations. The Free Exercise clause is a provision that guarantees an individual the right to propagate or practice a religion without interference by government. Several activities violate the free exercise clause. First, if the purpose of any government action or state law is singling out religion for adverse treatment or hindering or discriminating against a particular religion, then it amounts to a violation of the free exercise clause. Therefore, any activity that denies an individual the right practice religion is a violation of this clause. For example, in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, the Supreme Court ruled that a public school cannot expel students for refusing to comply with requirements of saluting to the United States flag on religious grounds (LII 2). 2. What key court rulings have affected this freedom? In Everson v. Board of Education in 1947, the Supreme Court upheld a state law reimbursing parents for their costs of busing their kids to parochial schools. In Engel v. Vitale in 1962, the Supreme Court termed as unconstitutional a prayer recommended to be part of the public school curriculum in New York State. The Supreme Court struck the prayer down as unconstitutional. In Lemon v. Kurtzman in 1971, a three-pronged test known as the Lemon test was established to determine if a statute is in violation of the establishment clause. Students in public schools are not allowed to recite prayers. However, the practice of a legislature by the state to open its sessions with a nondenominational prayer that is recited by a chaplain has managed to withstand constitutional challenges. In Marsh v. Chambers in 1983, the Supreme Court made a ruling that such a practice was not in violation of the establishment clause (LII 3). In Edwards v. Aguillard in 1987, the Supreme Court struck down a Creationism Act in Louisiana that prevented the teaching of evolution in public schools. This issue still creates debate even today regarding creationism and evolution. Other key rulings include Lynch v. Donnelly, West Virginia State Board of Educatio v. Barnette, Wisconsin v. Yoder, and United States v. Lee. 3. What does Tocqueville observe with relevance to these matters? Tocqueville approaches the issue of religion in a pragmatic manner. Tocqueville observes that the American society has a scarce history of state-church alliance. Also, it has a constitutional guarantee against this alliance. Despite this, the American society is extremely open to religious practice’s favorable influences. In his observations, Tocqueville (1) notes that all Christian groups propound a similar morality which is based on loving God and loving their neighbors. This means that they all agree that man has duty to other men. Tocqueville observes that it is difficult for man to support total political freedom and complete religious independence at the same time. When a certain people’s religion is destroyed, the higher intellect powers are held by doubts, and this paralyzes all the other powers. As such, every man will accustom himself or herself to having changing and confusing notions on subjects that are most interesting to his fellow human beings. Such a person’s opinions are easily abandoned and ill-defended. Therefore, when the principle of authority in religion fades away in politics, there is an aspect of unbounded independence that frightens men. While Tocqueville observes that the impact of religion and religious beliefs in modern nations is fading away, governments need to combat unenlightened self-interest and individualism and turn their people back to religion. 4. What did the federalists and anti-federalists have to say about religious matters? The federalists held the view that the power to legislate on religion should not exist at all, and if it was in existence, it lay within the state domain, and not on national or federal governments (The Library of Congress 32). Also, the federalists were of the view that introducing a politically controversial issue such as religion in the constitution was a tactical mistake. Both George Washington and John Adams were religion patrons and they had strong support for religion. Thus, federalists were opposed to the separation of the church from the state. On the other hand, anti-federalists such as Thomas Jefferson fronted for the separation of the church and the state (American History 12). 5. What role does religion play in the electoral politics of our country? When an explicit amendment was made to separate the church and state, one would have expected religion’s role to be extremely minimal. However, religion is very influential in electoral politics in the country. Very often, a candidate’s religious beliefs become part of the political conversation. For example, a presidential candidate or a candidate seeking elective office is likely to asked questions about his or her faith. For example, during the 2008 presidential campaign, John McCain and Barack Obama had a debate on values and faith (Parisella 1). At the same time, JFK’s Catholicism became an issue in the 1960s. Some of the serious issues which dominate debates in the United States are abortion and gay rights. On such issues, church groups usually weigh in on them and might influence their members’ voting patterns. Therefore, for many people, religion remains an emblematic feature in politics in America. According to Briggs (1), despite the United States being a secular state, religion still plays a significant role in the American electorate’s minds. As such, voters might tend to evaluate their leaders based on their faith and values. For example, in the run-up to the 2012 GOP nominations for the presidency, almost all the candidates had spoken out about their faith. A survey conducted by the Public Religion Research Institute in 2012 indicated that two thirds of the electorate noted that it was imperative for a candidate to possess strong religious beliefs. For example, Parisella (1) observes that many Americans who attend church regularly have been known to lean on the Republican side because the Republican party is seen as being more religious by conservative Christians. Therefore, religion in America is viewed as a confounding and distinct show of American exceptionalism, whereby religious ideals co-exist with democratic ideas in a nation that is explicitly secular. 6. Is its role in American politics increasing or decreasing? Religion is significant in American politics simply because religion is influential among Americans. Therefore, with studies indicating that religion is losing influence in the United States, then this also means that its influence in American politics is also on the decline. According to pollsters Newport (1), 7 in 10 Americans note that religion is losing its influence in the life of Americans. This can be demonstrated by examining the trends. During the Eisenhower era, 69 percent of Americans noted that the influence of religion was increasing. However, in the 1970s, after the Vietnam War, 75 percent of Americans noted that the influence of religion in American society was declining. However, after the 9/11 attacks, the influence tended to increase. But, the last few years have seen a decline in the influence of religion. There are other indicators of this decline. For example, from the year 1990 to the year 2008, the percentage of individuals who never attend religious or church services increased from 13% to 22%. Only 45% of adults respondents who were born after the year 1970 have grown up with fathers who are active religiously. While 1 percent of college freshmen in the 1960s had expectations of becoming clergy, only 0.3% have the same expectations today (Briggs 1). At the same time, confidence in religious leaders and institutions has greatly declined due to rising cases of scandals in churches. Therefore, a decline in religious influence in the American society indicates that religion does not influence key decisions in the lives of many Americans. As such, the role of religion in American politics is declining. Works Cited American History. The Constitutional Convention Debates and the Anti-Federalist Papers. Web. 07 April 2013. http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/documents/1786-1800/the- anti-federalist-papers/ Briggs, David. Is religion in America in Decline? The Huffington Post, 04 Feb. 2011. Web. 07 April 2013. Legal Information Institute. Free Exercise Clause. LII, 2011. Web. 07 April 2013. http://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/free_exercise_clause National Paralegal College. Freedom of Religion and the Establishment Clause. NPC, 2010. Web. 07 April 2013. Newport, Frank. Near-Record High See Religion Influence in America. Gallup, 29 Dec. 2010. Web. 07 April 2013. Parisella, John. Religion in Electoral Politics. Americas Quarterly, 12 Dec. 2011. Web. 07 April 2013. The Library of Congress. The Federalist Papers. Web. 07 April 2013. http://thomas.loc.gov/home/histdox/fedpapers.html Tocqueville, Alexis. How Religion in the United States Avails Itself of Democratic Tendencies. Web. 07 April 2013. http://xroads.virginia.edu/~Hyper/DETOC/ch1_05.htm Read More