Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
Last week, the economic meltdown generated its highest weekly level of coverage since the crisis exploded last fall. And the majority of media attention was focused on a three-letter acronym that became a four-letter word.
The economic crisis showed few signs of easing, a scandal-plagued governor tried to anoint a Senator, and the incoming President moved to Washington. But last week, the guns of the Middle East dominated the news agenda.
The accommodation of religion raises some of the most difficult questions in church-state relations because it involves so many different and complicated areas of constitutional law. Most fundamentally, in seeking to promote religious liberty, such accommodations often appear to favor religion over nonreligion and thus seem to violate the Establishment Clause. Balancing these two competing […]
McCollum v. Board of Education (1948) Invalidated an Illinois program allowing students to be released from regular secular instruction so that the students could receive religion instruction on school premises. Zorach v. Clauson (1952) Upheld a New York program allowing students to be released from regular secular instruction so that the students could receive religious […]
The form of religious accommodation most clearly permitted by the Establishment Clause is one that exempts both religious organizations and their secular counterparts from a particular legal requirement. Throughout American history, all levels of government have enacted these religion-neutral accommodations, most notably tax exemptions for both secular and religious nonprofit organizations. The Supreme Court addressed […]