ABSTRACT
The Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment declares that Congress shall make no law prohibiting the free exercise of religion. This brief clause reflects the philosophy that religion is a highly personal matter that should be placed beyond the reach of government. The South Carolina supreme court sustained the commission's denial of unemployment benefits, rejecting Adeil Sherbert's argument that the unemployment act abridged her religious liberty. The court maintained that the statute was constitutional because it imposed no restrictions on either Sherbert's religious beliefs or her freedom to exercise those beliefs. Counsel for Indiana hoped that the Burger Court would reexamine the Warren Court's reasoning in Sherbert and evaluate the policy from the standpoint of a much narrower interpretation of the Free Exercise Clause. The Establishment Clause of the First Amendment was forged in the fires of religious persecution and government-controlled religion in England and colonial America.
