Legal Question in Constitutional Law in Tennessee

What laws, like Gay Marriage, are violated by the Separation of Church and State?


Asked on 11/01/10, 6:02 am

1 Answer from Attorneys

Edward Hoffman Law Offices of Edward A. Hoffman

"Separation of church and state" refers to two clauses of the First Amendment to the Unites States Constitution: the one which forbids laws related to the establishment of a religion and the one which forbids laws that interfere with the free exercise of religion. A wide variety of laws have been struck down because they violated one or the other (or sometimes both) of these clauses. It would be impractical to list them here, especially since some of them differed only slightly from similar laws that were Constitutional.

By the way, most courts that have struck down bans on gay marriage did so because the bans denied gays and lesbians equal protection of the law, not because they improperly meddled in matters of religion.

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Answered on 11/06/10, 2:41 pm


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