shiyakujin no hokora
A Book of Little Traditions
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Blog — 06
Freedom Of Religion
Let's talk about freedom of religion and what it means in America.
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion…
The Supreme Court has interpreted the Establishment Clause (and the Free Exercise Clause embedded in it) to mean "Freedom of religion means freedom to hold an opinion or belief, but not to take action in violation of social duties or subversive to good order"
In other words, "While the right to have religious beliefs is absolute, the freedom to act on such beliefs is not absolute."
What this means is that neither the Federal Government or the signatory State Governments can determine what constitutes a religion or what its beliefs may be. They can on the other hand pass laws that regulate the actions of members of a religion, provided the laws are applied equally to all religions.
You are perfectly free to believe in human sacrifice, but if you try to act on that belief you have committed an act of murder and violated your social duties.
This standard applies to discriminatory actions. Again, you're free to believe what you want about any group of people, but when you act on those beliefs and violate state or federal laws you can't expect to justify your actions with, "But it's allowed in my religion."
When it comes actions, your religion ends at the tip of your nose.

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