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Tag: Separation of Church and State

The Alabama Law Bans Abortion — Except if It’s a Jewish Or Muslim Doctor?

The Alabama Law Bans Abortion — Except if It’s a Jewish Or Muslim Doctor?

The logical conclusion of the current trend toward religious exemptions There may be a strange, implied loophole in the Alabama anti-abortion law – that abortions can be performed … if the doctor is Jewish or Muslim. Here’s the logic.  We are in a moment of history when the courts are leaning in the direction of providing religious exemptions to secular laws.  This was the thrust of the Sisters of the Poor case, when a group of nuns said that they…

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Engel v. Vitale Majority Opinion

Engel v. Vitale Majority Opinion

U. S. Supreme Court 1962 The plaintiffs in Engel v. Vitale—three Jews and two “spiritual” people who did not belong to an organized religion—objected to their children having to recite prayers that had been written and required by the State of New YTork. The Court agreed 6 to 1, with three Republican- appointed justices joining three appointed by Democrats. The majority opinion was offered by Justice Hugo Black The respondent Board of Education of Union Free School District No. 9,…

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Everson v. Board of Education of the Township of Ewing

Everson v. Board of Education of the Township of Ewing

U.S. Supreme Court 1947 In Everson, the Court focused on the meaning of the Establishment Clause. Did that cryptic phrase intend merely to block the establishment of a state religion? Or did it prohibit taxpayer support for religion more generally? The Court disagreed with a New Jersey taxpayer who objected that his tax dollars were being used to subsidize the transportation of students to parochial schools. But it offered a set of guidelines and then these controversial words: “In the…

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John F. Kennedy’s speech before the Greater Houston Ministerial Association

John F. Kennedy’s speech before the Greater Houston Ministerial Association

John F Kennedy September 12, 1960 John F. Kennedy decided he needed to address the Catholic Issue directly. He did so during a speech in Houston. Reverend Meza, Reverend Reck, I’m grateful for your generous invitation to speak my views.  While the so-called religious issue is necessarily and properly the chief topic here tonight, I want to emphasize from the outset that we have far more critical issues to face in the 1960 election; the spread of Communist influence, until…

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Letter from Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury Baptists, January 1, 1802

Letter from Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury Baptists, January 1, 1802

Thomas Jefferson January 1, 1802 The Danbury Baptist Association was founded in 1790 as a coalition of about 26 churches in the Connecticut Valley. Connecticut had established Congregationalism as its official state religion. It was as a persecuted religious minority that they wrote to President Jefferson asking for his help in overthrowing the establishment. Jefferson’s response was not some throwaway courtesy note but the product of careful deliberation involving several of his top advisors. We know this with some certainty…

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James Madison Comments at Virginia Ratifying Convention, April 12, 1785

James Madison Comments at Virginia Ratifying Convention, April 12, 1785

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James Madison June 12, 1788 In the Virginia convention called to consider ratification of the Constitution, opponents such as Patrick Henry argued that the Constitution would allow creation of a national religion or other forms of state involvement in religion. James Madison returned to Virginia to rebut the arguments himself, claiming that a Bill of Rights was not needed because the Constitution did not give Congress powers to regular religion. The honorable member has introduced the subject of religion. Religion…

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James Madison’s Veto Message on Act Incorporating the Alexandria Protestant Episcopal Church

James Madison’s Veto Message on Act Incorporating the Alexandria Protestant Episcopal Church

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James Madison February 21, 1811 Congress passed legislation providing special legal protections to the Episcopal Church in Alexandria, Virginia. Madison vetoed the bill as a violation of the First Amendments “establishment” clause. Having examined and considered the Bill, entitled “An Act incorporating the protestant Episcopal Church in the Town of Alexandria in the District of Columbia,” I now return the Bill to the House of Representatives, in which it originated, with the following objections. Because the Bill exceeds the rightful…

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Madison’s Proclamation For Public Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer, November 16, 1814

Madison’s Proclamation For Public Humiliation, Fasting and Prayer, November 16, 1814

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James Madison November 16, 1814 Madison had resisted issuing Presidential prayer proclamations but in the midst of the war with Britain, he did provide this message calling for voluntary prayer and repentence. The two Houses of the National Legislature having by a joint resolution expressed their desire that in the present time of public calamity and war a day may be recommended to be observed by the people of the United States as a day of public humiliation and fasting…

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Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments by James Madison, 1785

Memorial and Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments by James Madison, 1785

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James Madison June 20, 1785 This is one of the most important documents in the history of religious freedom. James Madison wrote it as part of a drive (by Patrick Henry and the Episcopal Church) to tax Virginians to help support religion. Prior to the Revolutionary War, the churc We the subscribers, citizens of the said Commonwealth, having taken into serious consideration, a Bill printed by order of the last Session of General Assembly, entitled “A Bill establishing a provision…

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Letter from James Madison to Reverend Jasper Adams, January 1, 1832

Letter from James Madison to Reverend Jasper Adams, January 1, 1832

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James Madison January 1, 1832 I recd in due time, the printed copy of your Convention sermon on the relation of Xnity to Civil Gov’ with a manuscript request of my opinion on the subject. There appears to be in the nature of man what insures his belief in an invisible cause of his present existence, and anticipation of his future existence. Hence the propensities & susceptibilities in that case of religion which with a few doubtful or individual exceptions…

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