Civil Religion versus Wall of Separation: Examining the Constitutionality of Religious Expressions &amp; Symbols in American Public Square

Dvořáková, Michaela

INTRODUCTION The First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States affirms that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting thefree exercise thereof.... It was primarily the first part of the provision, commonly referred to as the Establishment Clause that has become a major point of contention and debate among justices and legal scholars alike. While advocates of textual interpretation maintain that Congress is not allowed to establish a national church but can provide aid to religion on a nondiscriminatory basis, others prefer a wider interpretation, barring Congress from any interference with religion and banning religious practices in all institutions falling within the governmental sphere. In a landmark case of Everson v. Board of Education (1947), in an attempt to define for the first time the parameters of the Establishment Clause, the Supreme Court justices unanimously declared the second, wider approach to be the basis of the Supreme Court'sjurisprudence in religion-related cases. To justify their interpretation, they referred to Thomas Jefferson and his "wall of separation," which they viewed as a symbol of an absolute separation between church and the state, and held, it was to remain "high and impregnable." Using this "high and impregnable wall" as...

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