The First Amendment protects the “free exercise” of religion, even as it forbids the government from “establish[ing]” one religion as the favorite, but it has not been easy for the Court to interpret the two without sometimes making them seem to clash. Can the government regulate some religious practices and yet remain neutral about issues of faith? Can it compel or forbid actions by religious believers without undermining their faith?
The Court will move back into this deeply controversial field on November 6, when it holds a hearing on the issue of religious prayer as a part of government activity. Soon there will be at least one, and probably more, cases asking the Court to decide whether a business firm owned by devout believers has a right to operate the company on religious principles — in other words, can a profit-making company “exercise” religion?
And, it now appears, there will be a case on the right of a business operated by a religious family to refuse to deal with gays or lesbians. An appeal is expected from a decision issued on Thursday by the New Mexico Supreme Court, finding that a Christian operator of a commercial photography business violated a state anti-discrimination law by refusing to take photos of a wedding-style ceremony of a lesbian couple. (New Mexico law does not allow same-sex marriage.)
The first of the new religion cases is Town of Greece v. Galloway (docket 12-696), which the Court on May 20 agreed to review in the coming Term. It involves the practice of the town council in an upstate New York community of opening its meetings with prayers led by members of the clergy or local citizens. That practice was struck down by the Second Circuit Court, under the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause. The content of the prayers, that court said, created the impression that the city government endorsed the Christian faith. More PTG
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