Religious Freedom Restoration Act :: essays research papers

Religious Freedom Restoration Act     In this paper I will describe the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.This Act was utilise to contradict the decision of the court subject area of practiceDivision v. metalworker, which allowed the politics to forbid both ghostly actwithout giving a reason. The RFRA brought backrest the requirement that thegovernment provide an adequate reason to forbid any religious act. Thegovernment once again had to show that the act was of compel interestagainst the state.     In 1993 one of the most important acts that has gone exhaustive Congresswas passed (Religious Freedom, social function of the RFRA). This was the Religious FreedomRestoration Act (RFRA) of 1993 (Religious Freedom, defend of the RFRA). This actwas passed to answer the 1990 court case Employment Division v. Smith (Questionsand Answers, symbolise of the RFRA). Employment Division v. Smith was a court case inwhich the issue was whether Sacr amental use of peyote by members of the indigenousAmerican Church was protected under the uninvolved exercise clause of the FirstAmendment, which provides that Congress shall make no law...prohibiting thefree exercise of organized religion.(Questions and Answers, Map of the RFRA). Accordingto Justice Scalia, if prohibiting the exercise of religion was merely theincidental prepare of a generally applicable and otherwise valid provision, theFirst Amendment was non offended. (Questions and Answers, Map of the RFRA).Thus,"...the government no longer had to unloose most burdens on religious exercise.The free exercise clause offered protection only if a particular religiouspractice was singled out for discriminatory treatment. In short, free exercisewas a sub category of equal protection. This placed religious rights in aninferior position to other First Amendment rights such as freedom of speech andpress." (Questions and Answers, Map of the RFRA).This court case caused a se rial publication of court cases about religious freedoms(Religious Freedom, Map of the RFRA). Congress enacted the RFRA to contradictthe nix affect that court cases had recently had on religiousfreedoms(Religious Freedom, Map of the RFRA).     The RFRA is what it states it is in the title, a restorationact(Religious Freedom, Map of the RFRA). Congress decided that in EmploymentDivision v. Smith,"the supreme court virtually eliminated the requirement that the governmentjustify burdens on religious exercise imposed by laws neutral toward religionand the compelling interest test as set forth in prior Federal court rulings isa workable test for hitting sensible balances between religious liberty andcompeting prior governmental interests."(Religious Freedom, Map of the RFRA)In other words, the government did not have to have a reason to impose laws