What Does Separation of Church and State Mean?

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What Does Separation of Church and State Mean?

The U.S. Supreme¹ Court has recently decided² several important cases involving religion.

After the recent rulings, some critics say American legal traditions meant to prevent government officials from supporting religion are at risk. But others say the court's decisions made clear that governments must treat religious people the same as everyone else.

Recent decisions

In three decisions in the past eight weeks, the court ruled against government officials. The officials put in place policies, they believed, avoided violating of the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment³. Part of that amendment bans the U.S. Congress from making laws that establish a religion or prevent people from exercising their religion. This is known as the "establishment clause."

President Thomas Jefferson said in an 1802 letter that the establishment clause should represent a "wall of separation" between church and state.

The establishment clause, then, prevents the government from establishing a state religion and bars it from supporting one religion over another.

On June 27, the court ruled in favor of a Washington state public high school football coach who brought a legal case against the local school district that dismissed him. The coach had refused to stop carrying out a "quiet personal prayer" on the field after games.

On June 21, the court ruled that the state of Maine could not favor non-religious schools over religious ones. The state had a policy of providing taxpayer⁴ money for students to attend private schools in areas where there were no public schools. But the state barred taxpayer money from being used to pay for students to go to religious schools.

And on May 2, the court ruled in favor of a Christian⁵ group that wanted to fly a flag with a cross, a sign of Christianity, at Boston city hall. The flag was part of a program aimed at promoting diversity and acceptance among the city's different communities. City officials had feared flying a Christian flag would violate the establishment clause.

In the June 27th ruling, Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote about the court's goal. He said it was to prevent public officials from being hostile to religion as they deal with the establishment clause.

Religious rights rulings

Most of the religious-rights rulings in recent years have involved Christian plaintiffs. A plaintiff is a person who brings a legal action against another person in a court of law.

But the court also has backed followers⁶ of other religions. In 2015, the court ruled in favor of a Muslim woman who was denied a job because she wore a head covering for religious reasons. In 2019, the court also ruled in favor of a Buddhist⁷ prisoner who was sentenced to death. He wanted a spiritual adviser⁸ present at his execution in Texas.

The court also sided with both Christian and Jewish groups in legal cases against governmental restrictions⁹ on public religious gatherings¹⁰. Such limits were put in place as public safety measures during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Criticisms

Cornell Law School professor Michael Dorf said the court's majority appears doubtful of government decision-making based on secularism¹¹. Dorf criticized the Supreme Court's conservative justices. He said: "They regard secularism, which for centuries has been the liberal world's understanding of what it means to be neutral, as itself a form of discrimination against religion."

Being neutral means not supporting either side of an argument.

In the three recent rulings, the court decided that government actions had limited the rights to free speech or the freedom of religion. These rights are also protected by the First Amendment.

In the case involving the state of Main, Justice Sonia Sotomayor disagreed. She wrote the minority opinion for that case. She suggested that such a finding "leads us to a place where separation of church and state becomes a constitutional violation¹²."

Those who support a strong separation of church and state are concerned that earlier Supreme Court cases could be at risk. That could include a 1962 ruling that banned prayer in public schools.

Nick Little is the legal director for the Center for Inquiry¹³, a group that supports secularism and science. Little said, "It's a whole new door that (the court) has opened to what teachers, coaches and government employees can do when it comes to proselytizing¹⁴ to children."

Proselytizing means to try to persuade people to join a religion.

Supporters

Lori Windham is a lawyer with the religious rights legal group Becket. She believes the court's decisions will permit greater religious expression by individuals without hurting the establishment clause.

"Separation of church and state continues in a way that protects church and state. It stops the government from interfering¹⁵ with churches but it also protects diverse religious expression," Windham added.

Nicole Stelle Garnett is a Notre Dame¹⁶ Law School professor who supported the legal effort for the football coach. She said the court was making clear that governments must treat religious people the same as everyone else.

Following the recent rulings, many issues relating to religious actions in schools might be reexamined. Officials might consider the court's reasoning that behavior must be "coercive" in order to raise establishment clause concerns.

"Every classroom," Garnett said, "is a courtroom."

Words in This Story

church –n. a particular Christian group; a building used for Christian religious services

district – n. an area established by a government for official government business

rule in favor of – expression to give an official judge that approves of or supports someone or something

secularism—n. the belief that religion should not play a role in government, education, or other public parts of society

interfere¹⁷ with – phrasal verb. to stop or slow (something) : to make (something) slower or more difficult

coercive – adj. using force or threats to make someone do something : using coercion

1 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

2 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

3 amendment   

n.改正，修正，改善，修正案

参考例句：

• The amendment was rejected by 207 voters to 143.这项修正案以207票对143票被否决。
• The Opposition has tabled an amendment to the bill.反对党已经就该议案提交了一项修正条款。

4 taxpayer   

n.纳税人

参考例句：

• The new scheme will run off with a lot of the taxpayer's money.这项新计划将用去纳税人许多钱。
• The taxpayer are unfavourably disposed towards the recent tax increase.纳税者对最近的增加税收十分反感。

5 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

6 followers   

追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件

参考例句：

• the followers of Mahatma Gandhi 圣雄甘地的拥护者
• The reformer soon gathered a band of followers round him. 改革者很快就获得一群追随者支持他。

7 Buddhist   

adj./n.佛教的，佛教徒

参考例句：

• The old lady fell down in adoration before Buddhist images.那老太太在佛像面前顶礼膜拜。
• In the eye of the Buddhist,every worldly affair is vain.在佛教徒的眼里，人世上一切事情都是空的。

8 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

9 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

10 gatherings   

聚集( gathering的名词复数 )； 收集； 采集； 搜集

参考例句：

• His conduct at social gatherings created a lot of comment. 他在社交聚会上的表现引起许多闲话。
• During one of these gatherings a pupil caught stealing. 有一次，其中一名弟子偷窃被抓住。

11 secularism   

n.现世主义；世俗主义；宗教与教育分离论；政教分离论

参考例句：

• Unless are devoted to God, secularism shall not leave us. 除非我们奉献于神，否则凡俗之心便不会离开我们。 来自互联网
• They are no longer a huge threat to secularism. 他们已不再是民主的巨大威胁。 来自互联网

12 violation   

n.违反(行为)，违背(行为)，侵犯

参考例句：

• He roared that was a violation of the rules.他大声说，那是违反规则的。
• He was fined 200 dollars for violation of traffic regulation.他因违反交通规则被罚款200美元。

13 inquiry   

n.打听，询问，调查，查问

参考例句：

• Many parents have been pressing for an inquiry into the problem.许多家长迫切要求调查这个问题。
• The field of inquiry has narrowed down to five persons.调查的范围已经缩小到只剩5个人了。

14 proselytizing   

v.（使）改变宗教信仰[政治信仰、意见等]，使变节( proselytize的现在分词 )

参考例句：

15 interfering   

adj. 妨碍的 动词interfere的现在分词

参考例句：

• He's an interfering old busybody! 他老爱管闲事！
• I wish my mother would stop interfering and let me make my own decisions. 我希望我母亲不再干预，让我自己拿主意。

16 dame   

n.女士

参考例句：

• The dame tell of her experience as a wife and mother.这位年长妇女讲了她作妻子和母亲的经验。
• If you stick around,you'll have to marry that dame.如果再逗留多一会，你就要跟那个夫人结婚。

17 interfere   

v.(in)干涉，干预；(with)妨碍，打扰

参考例句：

• If we interfere, it may do more harm than good.如果我们干预的话，可能弊多利少。
• When others interfere in the affair,it always makes troubles. 别人一卷入这一事件，棘手的事情就来了。