FREEDOM OF RELIGION

Ever since the creation of America, the idea of whether religion should be an influence of American culture has been controversial. One intresting idea is when the idea of God is included within legal documents. For example, the Decleration of Independence refers to the idea of God many times. However, within the Constitution, there is no presence God, or an idea of God. To eliminate the possibility of a a National Church, the Bill of Rights was created. One of the most well know Amendments within the Bill of Rights was the First Amendment which clearly states that each American has a freedom of religion. However, a well known clause that helps protect the idea of freedom of religion. There are some people who believe that church and state must remain seperate. However, there are many others who believe that religious benifits do not negetavily impact "the state." The Supreme Court has often had to deal with what is acceptable within the relationship of Church and State. For example, within the court case of Abington vs. Schempp, The court defended the seperation of church and state by banning a school to require daily readings from the bible. However, there were also cases in which the court allowed religion to influence schools. For example, in the court case Wisconsin vs. Yoder, the court allowed Amish children to stop attending school after 8th grade because the Amish believed that education taught in these schools did not agree with their own beliefs. However, it is agreed that even in America today, the freedom of religion is still fully supported by the goverment.

"freedom of religion." American History. ABC-CLIO, 2010. Web. 1 Feb. 2010. .