First+Amendment+-+Freedom+of+Religion

=__**1st Amendment (Freedom of Religion):**__ =

Establish Clause

 * The Establish Clause states the no Congress shall make laws respecting an establishment of religion. This basically means that the government cannot choose to favor one religion over another and the essentially they are all to be treated equally. Though, in present day monotheism is still predominantly preferred such as the mentioning of God in the pledge of allegiance.

Free Exercise Clause

 * The Free Exercise Clause is a clause stating the prevention of government from interfering with the practice of religion. So this means that the government must practice tolerance in which they must allow of religious practices. However, there are some exceptions such as the practice of human sacrifice and the use of illegal narcotics. Though, such instance as the use of peyote during Native American rituals is tolerated.

=__**Court Cases**__ =
 * ======Include a summary of the facts of the case (who was suing who and why) ======
 * ======the court's decision and reasoning used (include any dissenting opinions) ======
 * ======the impact the decision had on individuals' civil rights and liberties ======

//Aguilar v Felton-//
//Summary -// //The question in this case was, does New York City's decision to use Title I funds to pay salaries of parochial school teachers violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment? A group of taxpayers brought the suit against the city and claimed that the program violated the Establishment Clause of the Constitution.//

//Court's Decision and Reasoning Used - //

The court decided that New York was wrong and they overturned New York City's program of paying the salaries of public employees. The reason was because they wanted to have the separate relationship between the Church and State. This wasn't a popular decision in America, and especially in New York with its large Catholic population.

//Impact of the decision on individuals' civil rights and liberties - //
 * The significance of this case was that now the Court had established its position for these types of cases. It showed how the viewpoint of the judges and the courts were in these kinds of situations between church and state.

//Engle v Vitale//
//Summary -// This was started by the Board of Regents for New York where they made a voluntary prayer to recite at school each day. It was only 22 words long, but some parents did not approve of this. Ten parents filed suit in a New York State court to ban it. The question being asked was, "Did the Regents of New York violate the religious freedom of students by providing time during the school day for this prayer?" This involved the Establishment Clause of the 1st Amendment. <span style="color: #008000; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">//Court's Decision and Reasoning Used -// The court found the prayer to be unconstitutional. They believed that the prayer did not go with the Establishment Clause. The parents argued that government stay out of the business of religions activities. Regents of the State of New York argued that did not establish religion because of this. They gave the option to people and did not force them. <span style="color: #008000; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">//Impact of the decision on individuals' civil rights and liberties -// The court's decision was not anti religious, but only sought to have the separation between the church and the state. This was important because it was the first series of cases in which the Court used the establishment clause to eliminate religious activities of sorts. Many Americans are still not liking this decision.

<span style="color: #008000; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">//Everson v Board of Education//
<span style="color: #008000; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;"> <span style="color: #008000; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;"> Summary - <span style="color: #00ffff; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;"> In New Jersey they reimbursed local school districts to fund the transportation of children to and from schools. A local taxpayer filed a suit, and thus he challenged the Board to parents of parochial school students. His argument was that this rule violated State and Federal Constitutions. The question in this case was, "Did the New Jersey statute violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment as made applicable to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment?" <span style="color: #808080; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;"> <span style="color: #808080; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;"> Court's Decision and Reasoning Used - <span style="color: #808080; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;"> The Court ruled in favor of the Board of Education. They used the Establishment Clause and its importance and history. Black argued that this was seperate from religion and was for the services like bussing and police. The Court rejected both arguments presented and the first one about the violation of the Fourteenth Amendment was rejected on the notion that tax was for a public purpose. The second, about violating the First Amendment was rejected as well. <span style="color: #808080; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;"> Impact of the decision on individuals' civil rights and liberties - <span style="color: #808080; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;"> The significance of this was that it helped to support government money to finance portions of religious and secretarian education because the funds were applied to activities other than direct religious education. <span style="color: #008000; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">

<span style="color: #ff00ff; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">//Lemon v Kurtzman//
<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">//Summary -// So basically individual tax payers and religious liberty organizations in Pennsylvania and Rhode Island filed suit against the Salary Supplement Act and Nonpublic Elementary and Secondary Education Act for being a violation of the Establishment Cause. Since those Acts aided parochial institutions they were a clear example of Congress making a law respecting an establishment of religion.

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">//Court's Decision and Reasoning Used -// The Court ruled that both Acts were a violation of the Establishment Clause in which they created excessive involvement religion and state.

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">//Impact of the decision on individuals' civil rights and liberties -// The decision impacted civil rights and liberties in which the Lemon test became a product of this case. So that the government must have a secular legislative purpose, must not have the primary effect of advancing religion, and not result in excessive entanglement with religion.

<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">//Wallace v Jaffree//
<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">//Summary -// In this case the Alabama legislature passed a law that allowed a moment of silence in the sense of prayer for public school. The main focus of this law was to have prayer more emphasized within school. The problem with this meditation and or voluntary prayer was that is was a violation of the Establishment Clause.

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">//Court's Decision and Reasoning Used -// The Court ruled that the moment of silence law was unconstitutional and a clear violation of the Establishment Clause. Such that this law was to promote the practice of prayer within the educational system in Alabama.

<span style="font-family: Tahoma,Geneva,sans-serif;">//Impact of the decision on individuals' civil rights and liberties -// This court case impacted civil rights and liberties such that though voluntary and seen as meditation, prayer was not to be entangled with the educational system of Alabama. The decision was not to deter the practice of prayer, but more for the effort of the separation of church and state.