Establishment Clause Quotes

• The Establishment Clause prohibits government from making adherence to a religion relevant in any way to a person's standing in the political community.

  Sandra Day O'Connor

  Government, Community, Political

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• The Establishment Clause stands as an expression of principle on the part of the Founders of our Constitution that religion is too personal, too sacred, too holy, to permit its 'unhallowed perversion' by a civil magistrate.

  Hugo Black

  Expression, Church, Principles

  "Engel v. Vitale, 370 U.S. 421". Writing for the court, 1962.

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• Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.

  James Madison

  Exercise, Secular Society, Law

  Virginia. General Assembly. House of Delegates, J. W. Randolph, James Madison (1850). “The Virginia Report of 1799-1800: Touching the Alien and Sedition Laws; Together with the Virginia Resolutions of December 21, 1798, Including the Debate and Proceedings Thereon in the House of Delegates of Virginia and Other Documents Illustrative of the Report and Resolutions”, p.136

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• The Free Exercise Clause at the very least was designed to guarantee freedom of conscience by prohibiting any degree of compulsion in matters of belief. It was offended by a burden on one's religion. The Establishment Clause can be understood as designed in part to ensure that the advancement of religion comes only from the voluntary efforts of its proponents and not from support by the state. Religious groups are to prosper or perish on the intrinsic merit and attraction of their beliefs and practices.

  Harry A. Blackmun

  Religious, Exercise, Practice

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• Approving some religious claims while deeming others unworthy of accommodation could be 'perceived as favoring one religion over another,' the very 'risk the [Constitution's] Establishment Clause was designed to preclude.

  Ruth Bader Ginsburg

  Religious, Risk, Constitution

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• A profession that we are a nation "under God" is identical, for establishment clause purposes, to a profession that we are a nation "under Jesus," a nation "under Vishnu," a nation "under Zeus," or a nation "under no god," because none of these professions can be neutral with respect to religion.

  Alfred Goodwin

  Jesus, Atheism, Purpose

  "America's pledge of allegiance ruled unconstitutional" by Duncan Campbell, www.theguardian.com. June 26, 2002.

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• It is impossible to build sound constitutional doctrine upon a mistaken understanding of Constitutional history... The establishment clause has been expressly freighted with Jefferson's misleading metaphor for nearly forty years... There is simply no historical foundation for the proposition that the framers intended to build a wall of separation... The recent court decisions are in no way based on either the language or intent of the framers.

  William Rehnquist

  Wall, Years, Decision

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• The establishment clause was transformed from a shield for religion into a cover for the official sanctioning of religious tolerance.

  Ralph E. Reed, Jr.

  Christian, Religious, Tolerance

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• Pulling a crystalline, cogent rule out of the murk of the court's First Amendment, public forum, and Establishment Clause doctrine is an act of creation too complicated for mere mortals.

  Dahlia Lithwick

  Doctrine, Firsts, Complicated

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• With respect to public acknowledgment of religious belief, it is entirely clear from our nation's historical practices that the Establishment Clause permits this disregard of polytheists and believers in unconcerned deities, just as it permits the disregard of devout atheists.

  Antonin Scalia

  Religious, Atheist, Practice

  Antonin Scalia (2016). “Scalia's Court: A Legacy of Landmark Opinions and Dissents”, p.147, Regnery Publishing

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• "Respecting" means concerning or with reference to. But it also means with respect~ that is "reverence," "good-will," "regard" to. Taking into account this richer meaning, the Establishment Clause, in banning laws that concern religion, especially prohibits those that pay homage to religion.

  John Paul Stevens

  Mean, Law, Atheism

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