Word: religion
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...growing challenge to separation comes from "accommodationist" thinkers, who contend that the Government should recognize religion's role in society without favoring any one faith. A prime exponent is Rehnquist. In a blistering 1985 dissent (before he became Chief Justice), he declared that the Supreme Court's implementation of strict separation for the past 40 years has "no historical foundation." Similar points are made by Reagan Cabinet Members Edwin Meese and William Bennett, by conservative Protestants and, more mildly, by Roman Catholic leaders...
...Supreme Court's policy of near strict separation was laid out in a 1947 case, the first to apply the establishment clause to the states. The court declared neither federal nor local governments "can pass laws which aid one religion, aid all religions, or prefer one religion over another." In addition, no tax money should support "any religious activities or institutions." In 1971 the court developed a new threefold test: laws must avoid "excessive government entanglement with religion," have a "principal" effect "that neither advances nor inhibits religion," and have a "secular" purpose. Last week the high court decided that...
...accommodationists, the interpretations since 1947 have been based on a skewed reading of history. The late Justice Potter Stewart, for example, contended that in 1789-91 Congress and those states that ratified the Bill of Rights intended merely to prevent the establishment of a single national religion and keep the Federal Government from interfering with the established churches in various states. Accommodationists delight in noting that Jefferson allowed the Bible and a hymnal to be used to teach reading when he headed the District of Columbia school board, and that he signed a treaty in which the U.S. Government paid...
Most of the considerable emotion that surrounds the establishment clause concerns education -- aid to schools with religious sponsorship and the treatment of religion in public schools. In 1985 the Supreme Court threw out a law authorizing a "moment of silence" in Alabama's public classrooms because the state law specified that the purpose was to set aside time to pray. The court hinted broadly that it might accept a nearly identical law if the measure did not narrow the purpose so plainly. Such a law is currently under challenge in New Jersey...
Press: After a flurry of cases, the number of libel suits drops off, perhaps because so often no one really comes out a winner. Religion: Some powerful critics want to build more flexibility into the wall of strict church-state separation. Cinema: Turn-on porn films wind up in the bedroom; censors still want to turn them...