Topic #3: Religious Freedom

Please consider the following potential leading questions

#1: What is the scope, and what are the limits, if any, on “religious freedom” in the stipulation in the First Amendment to the U. S. Constitution that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof?”

#2: What meaning do you ascribe to the concept of “separation of Church and State?”  Is it significant that this phrase is not in the Constitution?

#3: Does your understanding of the First Amendment and the “separation of Church and State” allow for tax dollars to go the faith-based organizations that provide social services? If so, under what stipulations and requirements?  Especially, may faith-based organizations take the religious beliefs and the religiously-based behavior standards into account in hiring employees for positions for which they are receiving government funding?

#4: Should the executive or legislative branches of government be free to take actions that require religious congregations or faith-based educational, health, and social service agencies to act contrary to their religious  beliefs , and, if so, on what basis and under what circumstances? Consider, for example, legislation that prohibited the practice of polygamy among Mormons; and the recent debate over whether the executive branch of government can or should take action to require Catholic and other religiously-based educational, health, and social agencies to provide for contraception in the health plans provided for their employees.

#5. Can threats to the religious freedom of individuals and organizations better be met by carving out religious exemptions for them or by reducing the overall reach and intrusiveness of government?