Also known as: freedom of religion · religious freedom · free exercise of religion · free exercise
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A constitutional protection that prohibits government from enacting laws burdening the free exercise of religion. The clause requires neutrality and general applicability for laws incidentally affecting religious practice. Laws targeting religion or allowing discretionary exemptions trigger strict scrutiny.
Select any source to read its text and confirm it supports the definition.
Ruby Rivera leads a faith-based nonprofit planning a pet blessing festival with chanting and oils. The city requires certification against such rituals for expedited permits while approving secular pet events. Rivera sues after the policy burdens the planned religious activity.
Renee Rogers operates a Santeria temple performing animal sacrifices as part of worship. The city enacts an ordinance banning the precise method used in those rituals while permitting other animal killings. Rogers challenges the ordinance as singling out religious conduct.
Rosalind Reed works at a state agency and is fired after using peyote in a Native American Church ceremony. The state denies unemployment benefits under a neutral criminal prohibition on the drug. Reed claims the denial burdens her religious exercise.
Raymond Ramos directs a religious foster agency that declines to certify same-sex couples on faith grounds. City policy allows individualized exemptions for secular reasons but denies Ramos's request. Ramos sues after the city enforces the policy against the agency.
Rowan Russell belongs to an Amish community that withdraws children after eighth grade for religious fieldwork and study. The state enforces compulsory attendance until age sixteen. Russell seeks an exemption based on the community's self-sufficiency and alternative practices.
Ralph Richardson leads a religious student group requiring officers to affirm a statement of faith. The public university denies recognition and funding under a nondiscrimination policy. Richardson challenges the denial as conditioning benefits on abandoning religious requirements.
A law triggers strict scrutiny when it targets religious conduct or is not neutral and generally applicable. Discretionary exemption mechanisms that allow officials to grant individualized waivers also render a policy non-neutral. Strict scrutiny then requires the government to show a compelling interest pursued by the least restrictive means.
Supporting sources
…“impairing the Obligation of Contracts,” denying “Full Faith and Credit” to the “public Acts” of other States, prohibiting the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing the right to keep and bear arms, authorizing unreasonable searches and seizures, and so forth. Aside from these limitations, those powers…
…the States.[^maj-35] It has not even been argued that this is a law "respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise
…of breach of the peace was, under the circumstances of the case, found to be a violation of the Amendment’s commands relating to freedom of religion. In Bridges v. California , 314 U.S. 252 (1941), enforcement of the state’s common-law rule relating to contempts by publication was held to be state action inconsistent with the…
…under which proxies may be solicited with a view to preventing the recurrence of abuses which . . . [had] frustrated the free exercise of the voting rights of stockholders.” Id. , at 14. “Too often proxies are solicited without explanation to the stockholder of the real nature of the questions for which authority to cast…
…of the Fifth Amendment, see Davis v. Passman , 442 U. S. 228 (1979), we have not found an implied damages remedy under the Free Exercise Clause. Indeed, we have declined to extend Bivens to a claim sounding in the First Amendment. Bush v. Lucas , 462 U. S. 367 (1983). Petitioners do not press this argument, however, so we…
Neutral generally applicable laws that incidentally burden religion do not require exemptions under the Free Exercise Clause. States may enforce such laws even when they conflict with religious practices absent evidence of targeting. Unemployment benefits may be denied when a dismissal stems from violation of a criminal prohibition applied evenly.
Supporting sources
A state may not exclude religious schools from generally available funding programs solely because of their religious character. The Free Exercise Clause requires equal treatment of religious and nonreligious options in neutral aid programs. Exclusion violates neutrality even if the school integrates faith throughout its curriculum.
Supporting sources
Compulsory attendance laws must yield when they substantially burden parents whose religion forbids secondary education. An exemption is available where the community is law-abiding and self-sufficient and its alternative practices satisfy state interests. The clause combined with parental rights supports the exemption under these conditions.
Supporting sources