FREEDOM OF RELIGION IN THE UNITED STATES: AN ARGU

This research paper summarizes and critiques the arguments advanced by Philip E. Hammond in his book With Liberty for All in support of his proposition that, as the religious pluralism, technological development and other secular factors weaken the traditional hold of conventional religious groups on American culture and public opinion, the expanding role accorded to freedom of conscience will eventually lead to greatly liberalized interpretations of the meaning of the Establishment and Free Exercise of Religion clauses of the First Amendment of the Constitution, especially the latter. Hammond persuasively demonstrates how over time in Supreme Court decisions the viewpoint of the separationists has prevailed over that of accommodationists, as those terms are defined below.

However, Hammond's attempt to project these trends into the future is deficient and incomplete because he offers no firm guide or standard for reconciling these competing positions and relies on supposedly neutral sociological theories to support his argument which really reflect, despite his denials, his own subjective bias in favor of the separationists and a radical interpretation of freedom of conscience as a fundamental constitutional liberty which is consistent neither with contemporary jurisprudence nor with some objective or commonly agreed on basis for balancing the various interests involved.

Origins of the First Amendment's Religion Cl

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untertrend as little more than a recognition by the Court of the practical fiscal woes which would follow from a denial of all public support for parochial schools, which carry much of the educational burden which would otherwise fall on the states. Free Exercise Clause. Hammond points out that some of Founding Fathers, such as Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, favored an expansive interpretation of the free exercise clause to protect freedom of conscience. However, the Court moved gradually, finally covering non-conventional religious beliefs, such as by upholding the rights of Jehovah's Witnesses to refuse to salute the flag in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette (1943), to proselytize in Catholic neighborhoods in Cantwell, validating the right of a Seventh Day Adventist who refused to work on Saturday to claim unemployment compensation in Sherbert v. Verner (1963) and the right of the Amish to withdraw their children from public school after the eighth grade in Wisconsin v. Yoder (1972). At the same time, in a long line of cases beginning with Reynolds v. United States (1879), which upheld a Utah territory ban on polygamy, the Court drew a line between the protection of religious belief and the regulation
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Approximate Word count = 2123
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)