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Freedom of Religion

The First Amendment says that everyone in the United States has the right to practice his or her own religion, or no religion at all, without the interference of the government. This country’s founders knew that people have started wars over religion for thousands of years. That’s why they said “Let’s have a country where you can follow your religion, and I can follow mine—or none at all! And we won’t let the government get involved.” So they created the First Amendment, which put up a wall between church and state.

How do you know whether a government is "establishing" religion?

Apply the Lemon test! The U.S. Supreme Court created a three-part test to decide if the government is acting in a way that promotes or “establishes” religion. A government act or policy that passes the Lemon test is constitutional.

To pass the Lemon test, a government act or policy must:

Not have a religious purpose;
Not promote or favor any set of religious beliefs or religion generally; and
Not get the government too closely involved (“entangled”) with religion.

Case Law

Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971)

Pennsylvania and Rhode Island passed laws that gave state money to parochial elementary and secondary schools to help pay teachers' salaries and buy other stuff. To see if these laws were constitutional, the U.S. Supreme Court came up with a test, now called the "Lemon test." The Court applied the test to these laws and they failed it. Giving money to parochial schools 1) had a religious purpose; 2) promoted religion; and 3) closely involved the government with religion. Therefore, the laws were unconstitutional.

Bill of Rights

The First Amendment's Establishment Clause says that the government can't encourage or promote ("establish") religion in any way. Since public schools are run by the government, that means public schools can't encourage or promote religion.

The Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment gives you the right to practice your religion—or to be non-religious—as you choose ("the free exercise" of religion). The government can't penalize you for your religious beliefs. This means that public schools can't discriminate against students because of their religion, or desire not to practice a religion.