Nahmod Law

Introduction

The first part of the First Amendment reads as follows: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof….”

These sixteen words containing the Religion Clauses have for the last fifty years caused a great deal of controversy not only in the United States Supreme Court but among the public at large. What I would like to do here is set out some basic points without getting bogged down in the legalities.

History

The Framers studied  the religious wars of Europe and knew of their terrible impact on religious freedom and on the  lives of Europeans.  They also had a good understanding of the political divisions that religion created in the colonies. In drafting the First Amendment, they were determined to avoid as much of this divisiveness as possible while at the same time insisting on the importance of religious belief for morality, and on freedom of thought.

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