Topics: Legal Terms and Concepts Related to Religion

• Accommodationism and Religion

  Accommodationism says the First Amendment promotes a beneficial relationship between religion and government. It is a way to interpret the establishment and...

• Benevolent Neutrality

  The idea that government can exercise “benevolent neutrality” toward religion attempts to combine the ideas of neutrality and accommodationism from First...

• Child Benefit Theory

  Direct government aid to religious schools has been found to violate the First Amendment, but under the child benefit theory, government can aid the students...

• Civil Religion

  The First Amendment establishment clause protects against government religion, but there is a strong culture of civil religion, a mix between nationalism and...

• Coercion Test

  The coercion test helps the Supreme Court determine whether government practices violate the First Amendment’s establishment clause. It is most often used in...

• Endorsement Test

  Courts use the endorsement test to determine whether the government impermissibly endorses or disapproves of religion in violation of the First Amendment...

• Establishment Clause (Separation of Church and State)

  Though not explicitly stated in the First Amendment, the establishment clause is often interpreted to mean that the Constitution requires the separation of...

• Lemon Test

  The Supreme Court often uses the three-pronged Lemon test when it evaluates whether a law or governmental activity violates the establishment clause of the...

• Neutrality, Religion

  Even though the word neutrality does not appear in the Lemon test, many have interpreted the test’s commands to mean that government must be neutral in...

• Nonpreferentialism

  The nonpreferentialist test for interpreting and applying the establishment clause of the First Amendment comes close to accommodation and “positive...

• Reindeer Rule

  The reindeer rule applies to an informal First Amendment principle that arose from controversies over the public display of religious holiday decorations...

• Released Time

  Released time programs allow schoolchildren to use school hours for religious instruction. Programs in which students are coerced into attending violate the...

• Wall of Separation

  The origin of "wall of separation" came from Thomas Jefferson who used the phrase to reflect his understanding of the First Amendment's religion clauses...