The First Part of the 1st Amendment... Establishment, Free Exercise, and More

Hi everyone and my apologies for the late posting of this episode! For this first episode covering the main content of this course, we are going to delve into the First Amendment and in particular the religious components known as the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause. Our discussion will center on key cases for each clause: Everson, Abington, and Lemon v. Kurtzman (as well as Zelmon v. Simmons-Harris) for Establishment and Barnette, Sherbert, Employment Division v. Smith, and Kennedy v. Bremerton for Free Exercise. As you work your way through the episode, keep your thoughts on the tests we've created (and abandoned) as well as our present-day standards for knowing what is allowed under those religion clauses. I also spend a bit of time talking through the case briefs that are posted for this week, so if you've not used those before this episode will give you a short walk-through on how those are structured!