Word: religion
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...Soviet constitution is an impressive document. It allows freedom of the press, of assembly and of religion. Discrimination based on sex, race or nationality is forbidden. Every citizen has the right to a job, to "rest and leisure," to free health care and education, to housing and even to such "cultural benefits" as television programs and books...
...Religion. Powell took a highly eclectic approach: he voted to allow Pawtucket, R.I., to place a creche in a municipal Christmas display, but also to strike down an Alabama law authorizing a moment of silence in public schools. Justices Rehnquist, Byron White and Antonin Scalia want to go further than Powell ever would in approving state practices that foster religion, and O'Connor would like to rewrite the court's standard test for deciding when such practices are constitutional. Powell's successor might make a majority...
...Supreme Court has drawn some confusing borders between church and state, basing its decisions on a fervently disputed phrase in the Constitution: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion." As interpreted by the high court, those words forbid incidental aid to parochial schools and religious agencies, posting the Ten Commandments in public classrooms or, in a decision two weeks ago, laws that require teaching "creation science" alongside evolution. Citing the establishment clause, the pro-choice Abortion Rights Mobilization hopes the courts will force the Roman Catholic Church to stop pro-life politicking or lose its tax exemption...
Another phrase in the First Amendment protects religion's "free exercise." Though the circumstances that would justify limiting that freedom are sharply contested, there is a broad understanding of the concept. There is no consensus, however, on what establishment of religion is or what it signified to the Founding Fathers. Law Professor A.E. Dick Howard of the University of Virginia says the Supreme Court has had difficulty forming "a consistent, plausible, steadfast interpretation" of establishment. More bluntly, former U.S. Solicitor General Rex Lee snaps, "The law's a mess...
...Religion...