Religious Liberty: Core Court Cases

The First Amendment includes freedoms of religion, speech, press, assembly, and petition. Freedom of religion is first, the key element of republican citizenship. This freedom is expressed in two clauses. First, the government may not establish a religion—that is, make one religion the official, government-supported religion. But may the government promote or prefer religion generally, or even at all? Second, the government may not prohibit the free exercise of religion. But does protecting free exercise mean that all religious practices as well as beliefs must be allowed? If not, how are we to distinguish between those practices which should and those which should not be protected? This collection of cases introduces teachers and students to the legal debate over the First Amendment’s Religion Clauses through excerpted opinions of Supreme Court justices.