Important Court Cases

George Reynolds, a Mormon man, was charged with bigamy (marrying another woman when still married to the previous spouse), which is legal. Reynolds argued that the law was unconstitutional because it violated his First Amendment rights, as marrying multiple wives is part of his religion. The Supreme Court supported Congress’s ability to prohibit polygamy, as marriage, while being a “sacred obligation,” is regulated by law. Historically, marriage predates religion, so this makes sense. The Court declared that religion can not exempt a person from the law.

A New Jersey law allowed local school boards to reimburse the cost of school transportation for public and private schools. 96% of the private schools that benefitted from this law were Catholic. Arch R. Everson filed a lawsuit claiming that this violated the First Amendment. The Supreme Court said that the law did not violate the constitution because the aid did not go to the school, but to the parents, and did not support any religious schools over other schools. 

Roy R. Torcaso was appointed to the office of Notary Public by the Governor of Maryland, but he was not given his commission to serve because he refused to declare belief in God, which was a requirement detailed in the Maryland Constitution. He sued on the grounds that this was a violation of his First Amendments rights and the Supreme Court declared that such a requirement was unconstitutional because it aids religions that believe in a God to the detriment of religions that don’t. 

 A Pennsylvania Statute passed in 1968 and gave funding to non-public schools. Alton J. Lemon, who had a child in public school, believed the statute violated the First Amendment’s separation of church and state. The Supreme Court found that the statute did in fact violate the First Amendment. It was determined that a stature must pass the three parts of something now called “The Lemon Test,” which dictated that a law must have a secular legislative purpose, not have the main effect of inhibiting or advancing a religion, and it must not result in excessive government entanglement with religion.

 Sydell Stone felt that a Kentucky state law requiring the Ten Commandments to be shown in every public school classroom. The Supreme Court ruled that the law failed the Lemon test, as it was purely religious in nature and had no legislative purpose.  

A Louisiana law forbade the teaching of the theory of evolution in public schools unless the school also taught the biblical teachings of creation science. The Supreme Court declared that the law failed all three parts of the Lemon test, as it had no clear secular legislative purpose, it advanced a religious viewpoint, and it entangled the government with the church. 

The Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye practiced Santeria, a religion that utilized animal sacrifice and devouring animals as part of worship. Hialeah, Florida adopted several ordinances outlawing the possession and slaughtering of animals for ritual sacrifice. The Supreme Court dictated that the ordinance only singled out and oppressed that one religion. 

The O Centro Espirita Beneficente Uniao do Vegetal, or the UDV, brought a lawsuit to the federal government to stop the government from interfering with their religious use of a restricted substance, hoasca. They argued that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act allowed them to use hoasca and that there were not enough health risks associated with it for them to be prohibited from using it. The Supreme Court unanimously decided that not only can the government not regulate hoasca, but because of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, the government had to work to accommodate all religions.