Students and teachers alike have no doubt heard the social mores of avoiding discussions on religion and politics. But the first amendment freedom of religious liberty requires discussions about both. Examining some of the early challenges to religious freedom will give students the necessary background to understanding religious liberty issues today.
Religious Tests and Exclusions
Among the earliest challenges to the religious liberty clause in the First Amendment were “religious tests” like Maryland’s 1867 law requiring of office holders “a declaration of belief in God,” which remained on the books until 1961 (Torcaso v. Watkins).
In the 1850s, the Know-Nothing Party was formed to exclude Catholics from politics, and inspired violence and discrimination against Catholics nationwide. And the rise of the Ku Klux Klan at the end of the 19th century also posed serious challenges to religious liberty and tolerance. But the First Amendment has held fast to its founding principles.
The Scopes “Monkey Trial”
One of the most famous challenges to the First Amendment was the Scopes Trial of 1925. John Scopes, a 24 year old high school teacher from Dayton, Tennessee, was charged with teaching evolution in defiance of a state law that forbid the teaching of "any theory that denies the story of the Divine Creation of man as taught in the Bible, and to teach instead that man has descended from a lower order of animals." (Tennessee Anti-Evolution Act, 1925)
Scopes agreed to be the focus of a test case attacking the new law. He was was arrested for teaching evolution and, with the ACLU backing his defense, went to trial with Clarence Darrow as his attorney, facing state attorney William Jennings Bryan.
The authority of the Bible rather than the soundness of Darwin's theory became the main argument, however, and Scopes was found guilty and fined $100. The Tennessee law stood for another 42 years, but the trial was considered significant for publicizing scientific evidence for evolution.
However, the battle to teach religious doctrine along with scientific theory continues today, in cases like the one in Dover, DE a few years ago and in Florida during a recent update in public school science standards.
Everson v. Board of Education
In this 1947 case involving a New Jersey statute that allowed for subsidized transportation for students attending private religious schools, the Supreme Court voted to uphold the statute, but took a broad separation of church and state view on the subject.
Justice Hugo L. Black's summary statement has set the precedence for nearly all challenges to religious liberty in the US ever since:
“The "establishment of religion" clause of the First Amendment means at least this: Neither a state nor the Federal Government can set up a church. Neither can pass laws which aid one religion, aid all religions, or prefer one religion over another. Neither can force nor influence a person to go to or remain away from church against his will or force him to profess a belief or disbelief in any religion. No person can be punished for entertaining or professing religious beliefs or disbeliefs, for church attendance or non-attendance. No tax in any amount, large or small, can be levied to support any religious activities or institutions, whatever they may be called, or whatever form they may adopt to teach or practice religion. Neither a state nor the Federal Government can, openly or secretly, participate in the affairs of any religious organization or groups and vice versa. In the words of [Thomas] Jefferson, the clause against establishment of religion by law was intended to erect "a wall of separation between church and State."
The Contemporary Debate
Today the debate continues, centering on things like
- School prayer
- Public school vouchers to attend private religious schools
- Recitation of the pledge of allegiance
- The rights of various religious groups like Mormons, and Jehovah’s Witness
- The posting of the Ten Commandments at public buildings
- Government funding of faith based groups for various purposes
- The teaching of creation science
But despite repeated challenges, the religious clause in the First Amendment continues to stand the test of time. Unshaken from the early days of religious tests for office, through the Scopes Trial in Tennesse and Everson v. the Board of Education in New Jersey, to modern issues like school prayer and vouchers, the First Amendment continues to protect our religious liberty today.
