Page 58 - Freedom in the world_Neat

Respect for religious liberty in America today is strong, but only as the result of an
arduous struggle that predates the founding of the United States and has persisted for
nearly four hundred years. In the course of this struggle, major advances in religious liberty
have been tempered by periods in which disfavored religious minorities have been
persecuted.

The issue of religious liberty traveled to America with her first settlers, who formed a
patchwork of colonial governments that addressed the problem in very different ways.
When the colonies broke free from British rule and formed a new nation, this variety of
approaches had somehow to be reconciled.

The colonies disagreed on three issues of central importance to religious liberty: the
establishment of churches, the freedom to worship and engage in other religious speech,
and political participation by religious minorities. These controversies helped to shape the
four core protections for religious liberty that were ultimately included in the Constitution
of the United States: the Establishment Clause, the Free Exercise Clause, the No Religious
Test Clause, and the Free Speech Clause.

All of these constitutional protections continue to provoke debate today. Yet in
combination—and as interpreted by the judicial and political branches over the years—
they have served America well. For evidence, observers need look no further than the
status of Protestant Christianity. Protestantism is often closely linked with American culture
and government, and it remains the largest single religious group in the United States. Yet
despite the vitality of American Protestantism, no single Protestant denomination (nor even
a plurality of them) has risen to prominence in American life or enjoyed state support. On
the contrary, the United States is noted for its large number of religious organizations, the
religiosity of its citizens, and the relative peace in which these diverse peoples and
practices coexist.1

Four Constitutional Protections

The Establishment Clause. By the time the Constitution was drafted, the colonies’
differences over the establishment of religion were particularly bitter. Some colonies, such
as Massachusetts, maintained taxpayer-supported churches and feared a powerful anti-
establishment guarantee. Other colonies, such as Virginia, had rejected even a mild form of
establishment that would have supported a variety of Christian churches, and were
opposed to any state church at all in the new federal government. The Constitution’s
eventual language was therefore the result of a compromise: it prohibited national
establishment, but allowed the state and local governments to retain their separate
establishments.
Nonetheless, in an era of growing religious diversity, established churches became
increasingly unpopular, and the last remaining state establishment, in Massachusetts,
ended in 1833. With established churches gone and no national church to worry about,
the federal Establishment Clause remained relatively uncontroversial (and was rarely
invoked) until 1947.

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