Is it unconstitutional for local, state or federal governments to favor one religion over another? Government can show favoritism toward religion by displaying religious symbols in public places at taxpayer expense, by sponsoring events like Christmas concerts, caroling, by supporting the teaching of religious ideas, or even by supporting the teaching of creationism in public schools. It appears the United States governmenthas had a history of favoring Christianity.The United States government's favoritism of Christianity is a clear violation ofthe First Amendment. This amendment states that "Congress shall make no lawrespecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." There isanother reference to religion in Article 6, Section 3. This clause states "the United Statesand the several States shall be bound by oath or affirmation to support this Constitution,but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trustunder the United States" (http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.billofrights.html). For the purposeof this paper I am going to focus on the establishment of religion above mentioned in theFirst Amendment. The influence of religion on humankind can be traced back to the first records ofhistory. Ever since colonial times, the protection of personal freedoms in the UnitedStates has been significantly important (Klinker, 1991: 109). The original Constitutiondid not contain a bill of rights because the convention delegates felt that individual rightswere in no danger and would be protected by the states. However, the lack of a bill ofrights was the strongest objection to the ratification of the Constitution(Klinker:109-110). Even in the early stages of American history there was an urge to putlegally protected freedoms into written government documents. The result was thedrafting of the first ten amendments to the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, ...
