Where does religious freedom end?

Good afternoon, Ben.

Thanks for having me.

Good afternoon.

Thursday's symposium at ISU brings attorneys, students, members of the public together, uh, on the religion clauses of the First Amendment.

In broad terms, what is it trying to accomplish and, and why frame it as separation and unity?

Right.

Oh, those are great questions.

So first of all, this really fulfills part of Cyclone Civics' mission to provide civic education.

So our audience is the public, Iowa State students, and then of course, attorneys can, uh, come and spend the day with us and earn some continuing legal education credits, so we're grateful for that partnership with the Iowa Bar Association on that.

And in terms of unity and separation, I think that there's a real understanding, um, about the fact that there needs to be a separation of church and state, but that we, as Americans, are, in fact, unified, um, under the, the free exercise clause, where we can choose, uh, how to worship or to not worship, right? That, um, and to do that without state interference, and I'm certainly willing to explore that a bit more with you.

Mm-hmm.

We have seen a shift in this i- in recent years.

Uh, I think separation, uh, would be, for many people, an aspiration, but for others, not an aspiration.

Is that the way [laughs] you see the shift?

[laughs] Well, certainly, I think the definitions are in flux, right? And so to kind of back up, you know, the, the First Amendment is written as, "Congress shall make no law regarding, um, freedom of the press and of religion," etc., etc.

Um, it does not say Congress, state legislatures, the president, governors, and local school boards shall not make.

Aha.

Right?

Yeah.

[laughs]

Uh, so how, how do we get from there to where we are today, right? Well, with things like, you know, no, um, organized prayer in public schools and things like that.

Well, it's through a process called incorporation, and that is when the Supreme Court rules that a, um, civil liberty that is protected in the Constitution also applies to states.

So when the Bill of Rights was conceptualized by our founders, it was to limit federal government power.

Mm-hmm.

And incorporation, which has happened unevenly over time, then applies those protections to state and local governments, and that process began, in terms of the religious clauses, in the 1940s.

Good afternoon, Ben.

Thanks for having me.

Good afternoon.

Thursday's symposium at ISU brings attorneys, students, members of the public together, uh, on the religion clauses of the First Amendment.

In broad terms, what is it trying to accomplish and, and why frame it as separation and unity?

Right.

Oh, those are great questions.

So first of all, this really fulfills part of Cyclone Civics' mission to provide civic education.

So our audience is the public, Iowa State students, and then of course, attorneys can, uh, come and spend the day with us and earn some continuing legal education credits, so we're grateful for that partnership with the Iowa Bar Association on that.

And in terms of unity and separation, I think that there's a real understanding, um, about the fact that there needs to be a separation of church and state, but that we, as Americans, are, in fact, unified, um, under the, the free exercise clause, where we can choose, uh, how to worship or to not worship, right? That, um, and to do that without state interference, and I'm certainly willing to explore that a bit more with you.

Mm-hmm.

We have seen a shift in this i- in recent years.

Uh, I think separation, uh, would be, for many people, an aspiration, but for others, not an aspiration.

Is that the way [laughs] you see the shift?

[laughs] Well, certainly, I think the definitions are in flux, right? And so to kind of back up, you know, the, the First Amendment is written as, "Congress shall make no law regarding, um, freedom of the press and of religion," etc., etc.

Um, it does not say Congress, state legislatures, the president, governors, and local school boards shall not make.

Aha.

Right?

Yeah.

[laughs]

Uh, so how, how do we get from there to where we are today, right? Well, with things like, you know, no, um, organized prayer in public schools and things like that.

Well, it's through a process called incorporation, and that is when the Supreme Court rules that a, um, civil liberty that is protected in the Constitution also applies to states.

So when the Bill of Rights was conceptualized by our founders, it was to limit federal government power.

Mm-hmm.

And incorporation, which has happened unevenly over time, then applies those protections to state and local governments, and that process began, in terms of the religious clauses, in the 1940s.