Religious Freedom Restoration Act

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Term Paper Title	Religious Freedom Restoration Act
# of Words	1785
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)	7.14

Religious Freedom Restoration Act

Religious Freedom Restoration Act

     In this paper I will describe the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
This Act was used to contradict the decision of the court case of Employment
Division v. Smith, which allowed the government to forbid any religious act
without giving a reason.  The RFRA brought back the requirement that the
government provide an adequate reason to forbid any religious act.  The
government once again had to show that the act was of compelling interest
against the state.

     In 1993 one of the most important acts that has gone thorough Congress
was passed (Religious Freedom, Map of the RFRA).  This was the Religious Freedom
Restoration Act (RFRA) of 1993 (Religious Freedom, Map of the RFRA).  This act
was passed to answer the 1990 court case Employment Division v. Smith (Questions
and Answers, Map of the RFRA).  Employment Division v. Smith was a court case in
which the issue was whether “Sacramental use of peyote by members of the Native
American Church was protected under the free exercise clause of the First
Amendment, which provides that ‘Congress shall make no law...prohibiting the
free exercise of religion'.”(Questions and Answers, Map of the RFRA).  According
to Justice Scalia, “if prohibiting the exercise of religion was merely the
incidental effect of a generally applicable and otherwise valid provision, the
First Amendment was not offended.” (Questions and Answers, Map of the RFRA).
Thus,

"...the government no longer had to justify most burdens on religious exercise.
The free exercise clause offered protection only if a particular religious
practice was singled out for discriminatory treatment. In short, free exercise
was a sub category of equal protection. This placed religious rights in an
inferior position to other First Amendment rights such as freedom of speech and
press." (Questions and Answers, Map of the RFRA).

This court case caused a series of court cases about religious freedoms
(Religious Freedom, Map of the RFRA).  Congress enacted the RFRA to contradict
the negative affect that court cases had recently had on religious
freedoms(Religious Freedom, Map of the RFRA).

     The RFRA is what it states it is in the title, a restoration
act(Religious Freedom, Map of the RFRA).  Congress decided that in Employment
Division v. Smith,

"the supreme court virtually eliminated the requirement that the government
justify burdens on religious exercise imposed by laws neutral toward religion
and ...

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