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Religious Clauses and the U.S. Government

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?The two religion clauses include the free exercise clause and the establishment clause. The free exercise clause refers to the first amendment and states that congress shall make no law establishing religion or prohibiting citizens from freely practicing a religion of their choice. The establishment clause also refers to the first amendment. It is a limitation placed upon the us congress preventing legislation from passing an established religion for the country. The government has to protect the religious rights of its citizens but sometimes the free practice of one’s religion may infringe upon the rights of another citizen. This is a grey area where the court has struggled to find a neutral course of action. ?In the case of Walz vs. the Tax commission of 1969, Frederick Walz sued the New York tax commission because he felt that certain taxes he paid supported a church that he did not believe in. The court eventually found that it did not break the establishment clause because although some of the tax revenue went to the church, the government was not endorsing the church itself or claim that it was “the correct religion” it was just simply a tax. ?The two religion clauses clash together when an individual’s beliefs infringes upon the rights of citizens for the law. We see this clash in the church of Lukumi Bablu Aye vs. the City of Hialeah was a case dealing with the establishment clause. The church was sacrificing animals for religious ceremonies. The city of Hialeah passed an ordinance forbidding the unnecessary killing of an animal in a public or private ritual or ceremony not for the primary purpose of food consumption. The law was enacted when the city council learned that the church Lukumi Bablu Aye was practicing Santeria, which included animal sacrifices. The church filed a lawsuit in a U.S. district court seeking that the Hialeah ordinance be declared unconstitutional. The lower courts found the ordinance to be cons

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