Religious Freedom Safeguarding religious freedom for all Americans – whether in the majority or minority.
ADL has created a Religious Freedom Resource Kit featuring materials that examine a range of current threats to the wall separating church and state. The latest addition to the Resource Kit is a primer on the First Amendment & Religious Freedom, which addresses questions such as "How the Constitution Protects Religious Freedom" and "Did the Founding Fathers Really Intend to Separate Religion in Government?" The Religious Freedom Resource Kit also contains:
The issue of the proper role of religion in the public schools continues to be the subject of great controversy. Clear standards and guidance are elusive. ADL's multi-chapter handbook Religion in the Public Schools helps navigate the most common issues faced by public schools. Religion in the Public Schools can be printed as a complete document or its individual chapters — including Teaching about the Religious Holidays: “The December Dilemma” — can be printed from the PDF as stand-alone documents.
ADL often participates in court cases involving the two aspects of religious freedom protected by the First Amendment - the free exercise of religion and separation of church and state - by filing “friend of the court” or amicus briefs.
Roger Williams, Thomas Jefferson, and the Origins of Religious Freedom
Excerpts from a briefing by First Amendment Scholar David Furlow in Houston, Texas, July 26, 2011.
Religious Expression in American Public Life
This joint statement of current law, which ADL helped draft, aims to reduce conflict in discussions over the place of religion in American public life by clearly setting out the law that applies.
