TITLE 33

EDUCATION

CHAPTER 66

ESTABLISHMENT CLAUSE AND FREE EXERCISE COMPLIANCE

33-6602.  LEGISLATIVE FINDINGS. The legislature finds and declares that:

(1)  Prior to becoming a high school football coach, Joseph Kennedy trained marines, and in response to his decision to engage in a public prayer at the end of sporting events that was open to others in a manner that was consistent with his religious beliefs and the belief of many student athletes and their parents, he was suspended and later fired by the school district, and similar conflicts have or could arise in the state of Idaho between athletic directors and school districts or public college administrators;

(2)  The United States is a constitutional republic that Idaho is a part of, and the free exercise and establishment clauses of the first amendment to the United States constitution state that the government "shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof," and the first amendment applies to the state of Idaho through the fourteenth amendment;

(3)  Similarly, section 4, article I of the constitution of the state of Idaho parallels the spirit of the free exercise clause of the first amendment to the United States constitution and states in part, "The exercise and enjoyment of religious faith and worship shall forever be guaranteed; and no person shall be denied any civil or political right, privilege, or capacity on account of his religious opinions; but the liberty of conscience hereby secured shall not be construed to dispense with oaths or affirmations…"; and

(4)  The United States supreme court, in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, recognized that Lemon v. Kurtzman, 403 U.S. 602 (1971), was overturned and is no longer good law and that, therefore, the Lemon test is inapplicable and government must instead look to history and tradition to determine what is permissible under the establishment clause. This history and tradition prohibits coercion to participate in religious practices.

History:

[33-6602, added 2023, ch. 239, sec. 1, p. 737.]