Section 4 Establishment Clause

• Library: Prof Liability 2005

The establishment clause of the First Amendment provides that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion . . . .” U.S. Const. amend. I. This clause prohibits the state from “disapprov[ing] of a particular religion or of religion in general.” Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye, Inc. v. City of Hialeah, 508 U.S. 520, 532 (1993) (quoted in Locke v. Davey, 540 U.S. 712, 725 n.10 (2004)).

In Locke, 540 U.S. 712, the United States Supreme Court examined a case in which a college student alleged that a Washington state statute aimed at preventing educational aid to theology study violated the free exercise clause. The Court ruled that the state did not violate the free exercise clause by refusing to fund theology instruction. The holding was premised on the conclusion that the state’s refusal to fund theological instruction was not presumptively unconstitutional because it was not based on hostility...