Home : Religion and Belief : General

The right of each and every American to practice his or her own religion (or no religion at all), is among the most fundamental of the freedoms guaranteed by the Bill of Rights. The American Civil Liberties Union’s long history of working to ensure that religious liberty is protected goes as far back as the Scopes trial of 1925. Long before other groups appeared on the scene to argue for religious freedom, the ACLU was arguing on behalf of the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ right not to be compelled against their beliefs to recite the Pledge of Allegiance (as an amicus in the famous West Virginia v. Barnette case of 1943). The ACLU has been involved in a long series of prominent cases – under both the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause – that have argued against government interference in the religious sphere, including, e.g., Engel v. Vitale (1962), Abington v. Schempp (1963), Epperson v. Arkansas (1968), Edwards v. Aguillard (1987), Allegheny County v. ACLU (1989), Employment Division v. Smith (1990), Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe (2000), and ACLU of Kentucky v. McCreary (2005). More recently the ACLU of Pennsylvania, with Americans United, successfully challenged the Dover, Pennsylvania, attempt to promote so-called “intelligent design” in public schools.

The ACLU launched its new Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief in 2005 to coordinate the broad range of issues coming under the rubric of religion. The Program now has five staff members, including three experienced attorneys, who work to promote and safeguard constitutionally protected freedoms of religion and belief through First Amendment litigation, public education, and community outreach.
Learn More >>

Senate Votes Down More Federal Funds for School Vouchers (03/10/2009)
WASHINGTON – An amendment that would continue an expiring program to provide federal funds for private and religious school vouchers in the District of Columbia was defeated today in the Senate. The amendment would have extended the federally-funded District of Columbia school voucher program, the nation’s first and only federally-funded private and religious school program of its kind. Federal funding for private and religious school vouchers are currently set to expire at the end of the next school year. The amendment, number 615, was proposed to H.R. 1105, the Omnibus Appropriations Act of 2009 by Senator John Ensign (R-NV), but was defeated by a vote of 58-39.

Supreme Court Agrees To Hear Religious Display Case (02/23/2009)
WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court today agreed to hear a challenge to a congressional law allowing an eight-foot-tall Latin cross to remain in the Mojave National Preserve by transferring ownership of an acre of land within the preserve to the local chapter of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, which is now defunct. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit agreed with the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California that this transfer of federal land did not eliminate the government's endorsement of religion, and thus did not solve the Establishment Clause violation that the lower courts had already found. The government appealed that decision.

White House Announces Troubling Faith-Based Order, ACLU Says Administration Is Heading Into Uncharted Waters (02/05/2009)
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama announced today that he is taking the unprecedented and troubling step of forming a federal advisory committee to be made up mostly of religious leaders. Also of great concern, President Obama will increase federal funds going to religious organizations without first changing the Bush-era rules allowing federally-funded religious organizations to apply religious hiring tests to employees.

ACLU Says Government Prayer Bills Violate Religious Freedom (01/29/2009)
Richmond, VA – Virginia legislators are considering two bills that permit sectarian prayers at government events, in violation of U.S. Supreme Court and Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals legal precedents. The ACLU is asking legislators to reject HB 2314 and SB 1072 and is prepared to mount a legal challenge should either become law and lead to government prayers that endorse a particular religion.

Supreme Court Rejects Case Challenging Fredericksburg City Council Prayer Policy (01/13/2009)
Richmond, VA -- The U.S. Supreme Court decided yesterday that it will not hear a case challenging Fredericksburg City Council's policy requiring that the prayers offered at the beginning of meetings by the members of Council be nonsectarian.

ACLUF v. Department of Health and Human Services, et al. - Complaint for Injunctive Relief (11/17/2008)

In re Texas Department of Family & Protective Services - Brief Of Amici Curiae In Opposition To Relator's Petition For Mandamus (05/29/2008)

Jason and Jennifer O'Neill Compalint for Declaratory Judgment to Confirm the Validity of Their Marriage (02/26/2008)

February 27, 2007 ACLU of Virginia Letter to Governor Kaine (02/27/2007)
February 27, 2007 ACLU of Virginia Letter to Governor Kaine

Complaint in Stanley v West Virginia (09/19/2006)

Obama Administration Executive Order Regarding the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives (02/05/2009)

Coalition Sign-On Letter Opposing the Workplace Religious Freedom Act (05/15/2008)

Coalition Letter to Senate regarding "Creation Science" Earmark (10/10/2007)
Dear Senator: We, the undersigned religious, civil rights, education, science, and advocacy organizations write to urge you to remove an earmark from the Fiscal Year 2008 Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriation Bill’s Committee Report. The Fund for Improvement of Education, under Title III, contains an earmark for uses that, if funded, would be blatantly unconstitutional. The earmark would fund curriculum that promotes teaching creationism in the science classroom, even though uniformly prohibited by federal courts.

SUPPORT BIPARTISAN REAUTHORIZATION OF HEAD START BY OPPOSING ANY ATTEMPT TO REPEAL THIRTY-FIVE YEAR OLD CIVIL RIGHTS PROVISION (04/20/2007)
We, the undersigned religious, civil rights, labor, education, health, and advocacy organizations urge you to support H.R. 1429, bipartisan legislation that would reauthorize the Head Start program, and to oppose any attempt to repeal longstanding critical civil rights protections. As reported out of the House Committee on Education and Labor on a 42-1 bipartisan vote, H.R. 1429 keeps in place a 35-year old civil rights provision that protects over 213,000 Head Start teachers and staff and over 1,360,000 parent volunteers from employment discrimination based on religion in federally-funded positions in Head Start programs.

Oppose Any Attempt to Repeal Longstanding Civil Rights Protections in Head Start (04/19/2007)
On behalf of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR), the nation’s oldest, largest, and most diverse civil and human rights coalition, with more than 190 member organizations, we urge you to support H.R. 1429, the Improving Head Start Act of 2007, and oppose any attempt on the House floor to repeal longstanding civil rights protections in the Head Start Program that have been in place since President Nixon signed the law in 1972. We strongly oppose any language that would allow federally funded employment discrimination.* If language repealing civil rights protections is added to the bill either during consideration on the House floor or in the Motion to Recommit, we urge you to oppose final passage of the bill.

MEPS Policy Allowing Equal Access to Facilities (12/18/2008)

ACLU Statement On Texas Appellate Court Decision Regarding Yearning For Zion Ranch (05/22/2008)

ACLU Statement On The Government's Actions Regarding The Yearning For Zion Ranch In Eldorado, Texas (05/02/2008)

ACLU of Maryland Letter to Vice Admiral Jeffrey L. Fowler, United States Naval Academy (05/02/2008)

Christmas and the ACLU (12/13/2007)

Hein v. Freedom From Religion Foundation (02/02/2007)
Reviewing a challenge to a Supreme Court ruling that, for forty years, has allowed taxpayers to seek a federal court injunction against government expenditures in violation of the Establishment Clause. DECIDED