Quote:

1. That Congress may not respect or pass laws concerning or favoring a specific religion, or...

2. That Congress may not pass a law instituting a state-sanctioned religion such as there was in England at the time.


For your #1 I want to point out a crucial distinction -- The distinction is that of a law that FAVORS a religion, and the law that IS ENTIRELY RELIGIOUSLY FOUNDED and IMPEDES on the rights of those that are not a party to that religion. There is a huge difference. It's one thing to give clergy a tax break -- while I don't necessarily agree with it, it's a relatively minor concession. It's quite another thing ENTIRELY to ban the behavior of a group of people based on a law that has its only basis in religion. That is, I should think, an obvious violation of any intepretation of the First Amendment. That's because to pass a law that is based purely in religion that decreases the rights of a group of citizens IS TO ESTABLISH A RELIGION. By all accounts, you've got a State Religion -- I don't know how else you could possibly define a state religious institution except that you have a government that enforces religious law.


Edited by mschrag (14/07/2004 19:59)