Religious Liberty

Americans enjoy a degree of religious freedom unknown in most of the rest of the world. The United States is home to more than 1,500 different religious bodies and 360,000 churches, synagogues and mosques, and has a higher percentage of church attendance than anywhere else in the world.

The right of each and every American to practice his or her own religion, or no religion at all, is among the most fundamental of the freedoms guaranteed by the Bill of Rights. The Constitution’s framers understood very well that religious liberty can flourish only if the government leaves religion alone.

The free exercise clause of the First Amendment guarantees the right to practice one’s religion free of government interference. That includes government both using its power to advance particular religious beliefs or practices, as well as using its power to put unconstitutional limitations on the free exercise of religion.

The ACLU of Florida works to ensure that religious liberty is protected by keeping government policies from advancing specific religious beliefs and by keeping the government out of the business of religion.