Religious Freedom
The Free Exercise of Religion
The Jewish community, along with an unprecedented number of interfaith coalition partners, continues to pursue efforts to ensure that religious liberty receives the highest level of constitutional protection in our nation’s courts.
The JCRC is committed to securing religious liberty and freedom for all, regardless of their specific religion.
Please click on the following links for additional information about:
- The History of Religious Freedom
- Religion in the Public Schools
- Sensitivity to the Jewish Holiday Calendar
The History of Religious Freedom
The Jewish community is overwhelmingly committed to the notion that religious liberty should be afforded the highest level of constitutional protection like other fundamental constitutional rights.
The Jewish community remains united in its commitment to achieving the goal of promoting religious liberty and affording that liberty the highest level of constitutional protection. We will work to find acceptable ways, within a legislative framework, to achieve this goal while simultaneously being sensitive to possible adverse impact upon civil rights interests. JCRC will work to secure the passage of religious liberty legislation in a manner consistent with this statement.
The Jewish community, along with an unprecedented number of interfaith coalition partners, continues to pursue efforts to ensure that religious liberty receives the highest level of constitutional protection in our nation’s courts.
This effort was necessitated by Supreme Court decisions, which established that religious liberty claims do not deserve the same level of protection afforded to other fundamental constitutional rights. Current efforts to redress this wrong on the federal level include proposed bills that would reassert that no state or local law or regulation may burden the free exercise of religion, even unintentionally, unless it is doing so in the manner least restrictive to religious exercise, and doing so in order to serve a compelling state interest.
Religion in the Public Schools
The constitutionality of officially sponsored or sanctioned prayer at public school events will continue to be one of the most hotly disputed issues in the church/state arena. The JCRC will continue to oppose any form of officially sponsored, organized or sanctioned prayer at school programs, including sporting events, on the grounds that such prayer violates the Establishment Clause, marginalizing those students of different faiths or no faith at all.
Efforts to introduce government sponsored or endorsed religion into the nation’s public schools received an unfortunate boost from tragic schoolhouse shootings in Littleton, Colorado, and elsewhere. The JCRC will continue to oppose unconstitutional measures, such as legislation to permit the display of the Ten Commandments in public school classrooms, which have been offered as a panacea to deep, endemic societal problems.
Nevertheless, the JCRC recognizes that America’s public schools are not meant to be “religion-free” zones, and that there are constitutionally appropriate ways to teach about religions - their views, roles in history, culture, philosophy, literature and the arts. Finally, the JCRC will continue to oppose initiatives to stifle the teaching of evolution in public schools, and/or to promote the teaching of creationism.
- Religion in the Public Schools - PDF, Size: 127.3KB
Sensitivity to Jewish Holiday Calendar
JCRC is the watchdog of the Jewish community - fighting on behalf of victims of religious discrimination, educating teachers, administrators, and businesses about the proper role of religion in public schools, and sensitizing educators and businesses to the Jewish calendar.
When local organizations, employers or schools schedule events on Jewish holidays, JCRC is the place people turn to for help. We connect with every school in Minnesota and the Dakotas each year to provide information and guidance about permitted religious activity and requirements to accommodate religious observances. And if a school or business violates the law or acts insensitively, JCRC builds relationships to resolve problems and prevent their reoccurrence.
The Jewish community, like other non-Christian faith communities, have religious observances and holidays that are not always as well known to members of the non-Jewish community. The JCRC works with public schools and businesses to sensitize their leaders and employees to the Jewish calendar and to offer guidance on the levels of observance that are required by each holiday.
JCRC communicates with the public schools in Minnesota and often works with administrators and educators to ensure that Jewish students are accommodated on Jewish holidays and that exams, Proms, and other school events are not scheduled on Jewish holidays. If such a scheduling conflict occurs in the public schools - and also the business sector - JCRC works with all parties involved in order to reach an acceptable solution to the scheduling issue that would preclude members of the Jewish community from participating.