The Protection of Religious Freedom Under the American Constitution

A. Religious Freedom is a Favored Value in the American Constitutional SystemIt is the first guarantee of the First Amendment, which begins with "[N]o law respecting the establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. . .."'The First Amendment was enacted against the background of an established church in Great Britain during the colonial period and the official persecution of religious dissenters in Great Britain and colonial America. 2 It provides a two-fold protection to freedom of religion by what we refer to as the "religion clauses."The Establishment Clause protects against the "establishment" of an official church by the government and against governmental action "establishing religion," while the free exercise clause is a textual guarantee of peoples' right to practice their religion and to hold and act on religious beliefs, free from t Distinguished Professor of Law, Wayne State University.