Question

What does the Free Exercise Clause state?

Answer 1

The Free Exercise Clause reserves the right of American citizens to accept any religious belief and engage in religious rituals. Free-exercise clauses of state constitutions which protected religious “[o]pinion, expression of opinion, and practice were all expressly protected” by the Free Exercise Clause.[1] The Clause protects not just religious beliefs but actions made on behalf of those beliefs. More importantly, the wording of state constitutions suggest that “free exercise envisions religiously compelled exemptions from at least some generally applicable laws.”[2] The Free Exercise Clause not only protects religious belief and expression; it also seems to allow for violation of laws, as long as that violation is made for religious reasons. In the terms of economic theory, the Free Exercise Clause promotes a free religious market by precluding taxation of religious activities by minority sects.[3]

Answer 2

The Free Exercise Clause is the clause found in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and is the clause that prevents the government from creating a nationally recognized religion, and from restricting an individual’s religious practices. It states the following:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof (...)