The Establishment Clause, unlike the other First Amendment provisions, is not based on freestanding personal freedoms. THE SUPREME COURT OVER THE LAST TWO DECADES HAS repeatedly strengthened the expanded reach of the Free Exercise and Free Speech Clauses to protect the religious. At the same time, the Court has moved to reduce the weight of […]
The Path to Disincorporation Read More
The Ninth Circuit has just issued a ruling in which it does everything wrong. Worst of all, it pits the Establishment Clause against the Free Exercise Clause. Here are the basic facts: A football coach after a game went to the center of the field, by himself, knelt with bowed head, then went to the
The Constitution’s Religion Clauses Are Not at War with Themselves Read More
The City of Philadelphia was experiencing a shortage of foster parents. In March of 2018, the city’s Department of Human Services urgently pleaded for 300 more foster homes. Yet, during the city’s shortage, Philadelphia denied Catholic Social Services (CSS), a local foster care agency, the ability to provide foster care services to children. Because the
It is not uncommon for philosophers and social commentators to refer to any overarching belief system as a religion. For example, just out from Daniel Mahoney is The Idol of Our Age: How the Religion of Humanity Subverts Christianity (2018), in which he argues that secular humanism is treated as ultimate truth by many and,
Is Atheism Religion Under the First Amendment’s Religion Clauses? Read More
Using the Establishment Clause as a brake on the Free Exercise Clause, the Ninth Circuit has recently held that a public school could prohibit a high school football coach from kneeling by himself on the field to pray briefly after a game because students could see him exercise his religion in that way. NLF will
Teachers Have Free Exercise Rights, Too Read More
A federal district court judge in Wisconsin in Gaylor v. Mnuchen has decided that a tax provision favoring ministers that has been on the books for decades violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment (“Congress shall make no law respecting . . . the establishment [of religion]”). The provision in question allows ministers of