Info Brief: An Overview of the Religion Clauses

Learn about the two religion clauses in the First Amendment.

Let’s begin—as we always do when interpreting the Constitution—with the Constitution’s text: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof . . . .

So, there are two religion clauses in the First Amendment:

The Establishment Clause prohibits the government from establishing or creating a religion in any way. That’s why we don’t have an official church in the United States.
And the Free Exercise Clause gives us all the right to worship God, or not, as we choose. That means the government can’t punish you because of your religious beliefs, or because you don’t belong to a church, or believe in God.

Together, these freedoms make up the foundation of our freedom of conscience, which protects our complete freedom of thought and opinion, and the freedom to worship, or not, as we please.

But how do we know if the government has established a religion? How can we counteract the power of one group, usually the majority, to take away or curtail the rights of a religious minority?

Those questions are at the heart of the First Amendment’s protection of religious liberty, and they remain among the most hotly contested questions in constitutional law today.

Big Idea

The First Amendment protects religious liberty in two ways. First, it guards against government establishment of religion. And second, it protects the free exercise of religion. Together, these constitutional promises are at the core of our freedom of conscience—the right to freely believe as we wish.

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