Educating Young People about the Constitution Religious Liberty: The American Experiment Glossary: Endorsement Test: Supreme Court test developed by Justice Sandra Day O’Connor in the 1990s. Allows government involvement with religious activity as long as such involvement is “generally understood not to endorse” a religious message or teaching or to send a message to nonbelievers that they are not full members of the political community. Establishment Clause: First of two religion clauses of the First Amendment (1791) forbidding the national government from passing laws having to do with the establishment of a national religion. Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. Establishment of Religion: Government legally recognizes one (or a limited number of) religious denomination(s). This religion or denomination may be supported through taxation or otherwise advantaged over others. Coercion Test: Supreme Court test developed by Justice Anthony Kennedy in 1989. Holds that, while government may recognize and accommodate religion, government violates the Establishment Clause if it (1) coerces people to support or participate in religion against their will or (2) provides direct aid to religion in a way that would tend to establish a state church. Disestablishment: The process of ending an established church in a state or nation. Dissenters: Individuals who were not part of the established religion in a state. Free Exercise Clause: Second of two religion clauses of the First Amendment (1791) forbidding the national government from passing laws preventing people from freely exercising their religious beliefs. Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. Incorporation: The Supreme Court’s application of some Bill of Rights protections to state and local governments through the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause. Lemon Test: Supreme Court test developed in the case of Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971). Holds that a law does not violate the Establishment Clause if: (1) it has a legitimate secular or civic purpose; (2) its primary effect neither advances nor inhibits religion; and (3) government and religion are not excessively entangled. Religious Liberty: Idea that freedom of conscience is a natural, inalienable right of all. 200 North Glebe Road, Suite 200, Arlington, VA 22203 Phone: 703‐894‐1776 www.BillofRightsInstitute.org Educating Young People about the Constitution Religious Toleration: Public, government policy of permitting members of minority religious groups to practice their faiths. Separation of Church and State: Phrase taken from Thomas Jefferson’s letter to the Danbury Baptists (1802) in which Jefferson declared “I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should ‘make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,’ thus building a wall of separation between Church & State.” Tolerance: Private, individual practice of compassion for beliefs and practices different from one’s own. Toleration: See Religious Toleration