Federalism’s Influence on Religious Freedom

The Impact of Federalism on Freedom of Religion

The way the United States is divided is often based on federalism, which divides government power among numerous institutions. In this sense, federalism refers to a type of governance that allows multiple entities to share jurisdiction over the same geographical area. In the United States, for example, everyone is subject to the laws of the city, county, state, and federal governments. As a result, power is shared among the federal, state, and municipal administrations (Eisgruber & Sager, 2009).

The Constitution and Religious Freedom

The Constitution of the United States creates America’s national government and laws, as well as guaranteeing some basic rights and freedoms to all citizens. Religious freedom is one of the most crucial. Religious freedom refers to the right of every citizen to choose a religion or no religion without being interfered to do so by the government. Thus, the importance of the freedom of religion cannot be underestimated. In particular, freedom of religion is normally guaranteed by the constitution in the First Amendment. In this regard, the following paper seeks to discuss the impact of federalism on freedom of religion both positive and negative impacts as well as the most significant impact of the two.

Positive Impact of Federalism on Religious Freedom

The federalism has positively impacted religious freedom. As the stated in the First Amendment of the constitution of United States, it through the freedom of religion that prevents the government from undertaking on any forceful acts of compelling citizens to practice any religion. With this wonderful constitutional amendment, all sorts of religion are permitted in the United States which include and not limited to Catholicism, Hinduism and Muslim. Various prominent individuals such as the pope have been able to emphasize the importance of the United States First Amendment related to freedom of religion. In fact, the freedom of religion acts as a fundamental right as Pope highlighted. Through religious freedom, a person does not worry about being punished wrongly or being ridiculed for his or her belief (Viteritti, 1996). For example, an individual can freely attend a catholic school irrespective of whether he or she is a catholic, protestant or a Muslim. American is made up of various people who had migrated from all over the world, and all share dissimilar religions. Thanks to the religious freedom enable people to be close to each despite celebrating different holidays and believing on different things.

Another positive impact of federalism on religious freedom is that it brings the aspect of equality among all the citizens regarding religion. Before establishment of First Amendment which supports religious freedom, colonies which existed were inclining on one side of religion. There was no pluralism when it came to issuing related with religion. People were not supposed to choose a religion, and in case they opted to choose, the government of then which comprised of colonies interfered with the decision. This means that there was a lot of inequality as some of the religion was respected than others. The introduction of religious freedom in the federalism form of government brought the aspect of equality in religion, and thus federalism has a positive impact on religious freedom. The ruling of McDaniel vs. Paty in 1978 in Tennessee is an example of a ruling that was based on religious freedom (Eisgruber & Sager, 2009).

Negative Impact of Federalism on Religious Freedom

The federalism provides freedom to religion in the First Amendment of the United States constitution. Although there is various positive impact of federalism on religious freedom, there is also the negative impact of federalism on religious freedom. In recent year, issues related to religion have become increasingly contentious. In particular, the issues related to religious organizations which support some negative acts that are not supported by the law such as abortion have increased in recent past. The negative impact can be established by through the analysis problem of the third party harms (In Shah, In Farr, & In Friedman, 2016). In obvious circumstances, it may be seen that religious freedom does not authorize one person to harm or even shift cost another person. The rights of freedom of religion are articulated to be the right that enables an individual to do what his or her religion motivates him to do. This is only because of religion motivation and should only be varied only as long as it does not harm the rights of the citizens. Some religion can go further to kill someone in the name of the ritual sacrifices arguing it is their belief. Basing the argument on the religious freedom, everyone has the right to belief according to his religion. In this case, one may argue that he has not against the legislature and this is a negative impact of federalism on religious freedom.

Evaluation and Discussion of the Most Significant Impact

From the discussion highlighted, it is clear that there is both negative and positive impact of federalism on religious freedom. Both are significant in some, but the one which is the most significant is the positive impact of federalism on the freedom of religion. This is because our society is normally built on freedom (Eisgruber, & Sager, 2009). While all freedom is wonderful, religious freedom plays a critical role towards contributing to a positive development among the American people. Regardless of their religion inclination, the government can respect individuals’ religion. However, the Trump government has gone against the constitution by demonstrating hatred towards some religion. In particular, Trump administration has banned six Muslim countries from coming in the United States. This is a critical issue as it hinders the positive impact created by the federalism on religious freedom. To be precise, the positive impact of federalism is that it brings a sense of equality among all the citizen.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is clear that the United States constitution provides various rights and freedom to its citizens. However, among all the freedoms, the most intriguing is the religious freedom. The religious freedom is by the First Amendment of United States; it guarantees the free exercise of religion. The federalism plays a crucial role in religious freedom. In fact, there are positive and negative impacts of federalism on religious freedom. Positive impacts are the affirmative influence associated with federalism on the freedom of religion. Federalism provides and the environment through which individuals can express their religion inclination without being perturbed by the government on their choice. Also, there are negative impacts of federalism on freedom of religion. Negative impacts are the undesirable influence that is brought about by freedom of religion. The negative impacts are brought about by individuals abusing the highlighted religious freedom. However, among the two, positive impact is the most significant as compared to the negative impacts of federalism on religious freedom.

References

Viteritti, J. P. (1996). Choosing Equality: Religious Freedom and Educational Opportunity Under Constitutional Federalism. Yale Law & Policy Review,15(1), 113-192..

Eisgruber, C. L., & Sager, L. G. (2009). Religious freedom and the constitution. Harvard University Press.

In Shah, T. S., In Farr, T. F., & In Friedman, J. (2016). Religious freedom and gay rights: Emerging conflicts in the United States and Europe.