1. The 1st Amendment’s Establishment Claude guarantees the separation of church and state. What does that guarantee mean?

2. Is it acceptable, according to the Free Exercise Clause, for a person to stand in the middle of a city street and read aloud from the Bible? Why or why not?

1. The first clause in the Bill of Rights states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.” As the citizenry became more diverse, however, challenges arose to existing laws and practices, and eventually, the Supreme Court was called upon to determine the meaning of the establishment clause.  Though not explicitly stated in the First Amendment, the clause is often interpreted to mean that the Constitution requires the separation of church and state.

2. The Free Exercise Clause reserves the right of American citizens to accept any religious belief and engage in religious rituals. Free-exercise clauses of state constitutions which protected religious “opinion, expression of opinion, and practice were all expressly protected” by the Free Exercise Clause. The Clause protects not just religious beliefs but actions made on behalf of those beliefs.