What does freedom of religion mean?

Freedom of religion means the right to practice any religion, or no religion at all, without interference from government. The First Amendment, ratified on December 15, 1791, expresses this protection through two clauses. The Establishment Clause forbids Congress from making any law respecting an establishment of religion, which prevents the federal government from setting up an official church, funding religious instruction, or favoring one denomination over another. The Free Exercise Clause protects an individual's right to worship, observe holy days, wear religious clothing, raise children in a faith, share beliefs publicly, and choose to practice no religion at all.

Through Cantwell v. Connecticut (1940) and Everson v. Board of Education (1947), the Supreme Court applied both clauses to state and local governments by way of the Fourteenth Amendment. Several landmark rulings shape how these clauses operate. The Lemon test from Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971) once required laws touching religion to have a secular purpose, neither advance nor inhibit religion, and avoid excessive entanglement, though the Court has moved away from the test in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District (2022) toward a historical practices analysis. Engel v. Vitale (1962) struck down state-sponsored prayer in public schools. Wisconsin v. Yoder (1972) protected Amish parents withdrawing their children from school after eighth grade on free exercise grounds. Employment Division v. Smith (1990) held that neutral, generally applicable laws may apply to religious conduct, prompting Congress to pass the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993, which restores strict scrutiny for federal laws that substantially burden religion.

The principle has deep roots. Roger Williams founded Rhode Island in 1636 as a refuge for religious dissenters, William Penn welcomed Quakers, Catholics, and Jews to Pennsylvania in 1681, and James Madison drafted the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom in 1786, written by Thomas Jefferson, which became the model for the First Amendment. Jefferson described the relationship as a wall of separation between church and state in his 1802 letter to the Danbury Baptists.

Today the freedom protects a remarkable range of practices: Sikhs wearing turbans in the workplace, Muslim women wearing hijab in public schools, Orthodox Jews observing Sabbath restrictions, Native Americans using peyote in religious ceremonies under the American Indian Religious Freedom Act of 1978, atheists declining to recite religious oaths, and conscientious objectors seeking exemption from military service. Naturalization candidates can practice the religion of their choice, change religions freely, or hold no religious belief, all without legal penalty.