Freedom of Religion

Amendment I

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

The video above is from the YouTube channel ‘CrashCourse’ which makes brief lessons on different subjects. This video explains the First amendments ‘free exercise’ of religion clause and its effect on how people are allowed to practice their faith. The Freedom to practice your own faith was one of the ideas central to why many people immigrated to America in the first place.

The clause not only protects people’s right to practice whichever religion they please, but also actions which are made on behalf of religious beliefs. Although the clause does not allow for extreme violation of laws, e.g. a religious fundamentalist will still go to prison if involved with terrorism, the clause does seem to allow some minor violation of the law if the person does it because of their religious beliefs.

The other thing which is mentioned about religion in the first amendment is that ‘Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion’. This is important because it stops the USA having a state church, like the Church of England. Although the First Amendment basically prohibits a national religion, many Americans believe that the USA is a Christian country as somewhere between 60-70% of Americans identify themselves as Christian. The view of America being Christian is also backed up by the pledge of allegiance which says ‘one Nation under God’. This goes against the first amendment, although in the Massachusetts court case ‘Doe v. Acton-Boxborough Regional School Dist.’ It was decided that the pledge of allegiance was not in violation of the constitution.