Whether Capital City has violated the CJSers’ free exercise of religion.
Prior to posting your primary response to this discussion watch The First Amendment (Links to an external site.) and the 002 History of US law and what is the law? (Links to an external site.)videos and review all the one-page Supreme Court decisions listed in the Required Resources section.
Respond to the following case scenario:
Reverend William B. Slick is the spiritual leader of the Church of the Jurassic Spirit (CJS). CJS doctrine claims that every invention since the dinosaurs has been inspired by the devil and that members must return to the spirit of the Jurassic period in order to be purified. The primary ritual is to publicly bathe in the essence of the dinosaurs (oil). Capital City follows the same format for its permits used by the City of Atlanta, Georgia (i.e., City of Atlanta’s Assembly Permit Application (Links to an external site.)). The CJS applies for a permit for 500 of their members to assemble to bathe in oil in Capital City Park. CJS plans to march to the Capital City River to dump the oil, thereby “returning it to the Earth.” The mayor of Capital City despises the CJSers, because he feels that their ritual is a waste of petroleum, which is a diminishing resource. He also feels that the dumping of the oil will pollute the river. The police chief of Capital City hates the idea of 500 CJSers bathing in oil in the park and fears their march to the river will cause counter demonstrations and possible violence. The permit is denied. The CJSers appear to perform their ritual anyway and are all arrested.
Research First Amendment cases involving free exercise of religion and freedom of assembly.
If your last name begins with A through M, address the following in your primary response this week:
Whether Capital City has violated the CJSers’ free exercise of religion.
Whether Capital City has violated the CJSers’ right to freely assemble.
Sample Solution
Congress shall not pass any legislation establishing a religion or banning its free exercise… The freedom to reach, retain, practice, and change convictions according to the dictates of conscience is known as free exercise. The First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause forbids the government from interfering with religion belief and, to a certain extent, religious practice. Acceptance of any religion or practice of any form of worship cannot be compelled by government, because, as the Supreme Court noted in Braunfeld v. Brown, the right to possess religious ideas and opinions is unalienable. As a result, no federal or state legislation can make it illegal to possess.