First Amendment Archives | Page 3 of 22

Key point 13-07. Public school property may be used during noninstructional hours by students for

Key point 13-08. Local ordinances requiring some or all businesses to be closed on Sundays

Key point 13-09. Competent adults have the right to refuse medical treatment on the basis

Key point 13-10. The courts have defined the terms “religion” and “religious” broadly. Occasionally it

Key point 12-01.01. For decades, the most commonly applied test for evaluating the validity of

Key point 12-02.01. In the Smith case (1990) the Supreme Court ruled that a neutral

Key point 12-02.02. Congress enacted the Religious Freedom Restoration Act to prevent the government from

Key point 12-02.03. In the City of Boerne case (1997), the Supreme Court ruled that

The following rules summarize the current interpretation of the First Amendment guaranty of religious freedom,

The clearest evidence that the framers of the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause intended only to

The First Amendment specifies that “Congress shall make no law … prohibiting the free exercise

Key point 10-09.02. Some courts have found churches not liable on the basis of negligent

Key point 10-10.01. Some courts have found churches liable on the basis of negligent supervision

Key point 10-18.01. Some courts have found denominational agencies liable for the acts of affiliated

Key point 10-18.02. Most courts have refused to hold denominational agencies liable for the acts

Key point 10-18.03. There are several legal defenses available to a denominational agency that is

Key point 10-15. The First Amendment limits, but does not eliminate, a church’s liability for

There are a number of legal defenses that may be available to a church that

Key point 9-05.04. Copyright infringement occurs when one violates any one or more of the

The amenability of churches to some governmental regulation is not seriously disputed. For example, few