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STORY 1 God’s Law or Caesar’s? The Free Exercise of Religion Reynolds v. United States, 98 U.S. 145 (1878) The First Amendment says, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof. . . .” The Constitution seems to point to a relationship between the secular state and religion, one in which the state can’t have a favored or official religion,and one in which the individual is guaranteed the right freely to exercise his or her religion. Does this mean that religion must be entirely private and free of state in- fluence, even supportive state influence? Or does it mean that government can promote religion—but must not prefer one religion to another? Does the free exercise clause guarantee the individual the freedom to “exercise ” his or her religion, like the free speech clause guarantees the individual the right to hold beliefs and act on them by speaking them to others? If religious conduct and belief are protected by the free exercise right, how far does that protection extend? Does it include the right to attend church, to publicly display one’s religion, to an exemption from compulsory education laws, to create religious schools outside the public school system, to refuse modern medicine, to consume alcohol or drugs as part of religious activities , to kill in the name of religion? Does it include the right to have more than one wife—to engage in polygamy —free from the law’s prohibition? That is the question posed by the Reynolds case, decided in 1878. The Reynolds case involved the federal government ’s power to outlaw polygamy in the face of Mormon religious belief (at the time) that polygamy was permissible and, indeed, a required religious practice under basic Church doctrine.George Reynolds chose the law 02.st1.7-26_Bezanson 4/12/06 12:19 PM Page 9 of his religion over the law of his government. Was he entitled to do so by the free exercise guarantee? If so, would that make the government an unwitting and unwilling party to his actions? How should we resolve struggles between the individual believer and the government? George Reynolds’s story involves the nature of religious belief, the emergence of a new and socially threatening religion, and the life and beliefs of an important member of the Mormon Church. It was a national controversy played out over many years in contentious disputes in the national press and in the House, Senate, and the Executive Branch, as well as in the courts. Indeed , it involves a struggle for secular control over a territory and, later, the state of Utah,which was believed by many,including presidents,to have come under the dominion and control of a church that would, if allowed to persist , effectively own the property, control the branches of state government, make the laws, organize the society, and set its social, political, and economic rules and laws in accordance with the doctrines of the Mormon faith. * * * George Reynolds was born on New Year’s Day, 1842, in the Marylebone District of Central London.1 He was born into a middle-class London family , his father a master tailor on Regent Street. George was a precocious boy with “an assiduous desire to learn”2 who, with the help of his maternal grandmother, was able to attend primary school at the North London Collegiate School, where he excelled. In 1851, at age 9, he first became acquainted with Mormonism, through a maid of his grandmother’s. He attended services and, after a time, attempted baptism, but was not allowed to do so for lack of his parents’ permission. At age 12, George was sent to Paris for further education, studying French and classical literature and continuing his interest in mathematics, science, geography, history, and astronomy. He also continued his interest in Mormonism . Upon his return to England in 1856 at age 14, he finally succeeded in getting baptized in the Mormon Church. The next year he was ordained a deacon. For the next few years, George worked as an apprentice for his father and then as a cashier.But his commitment was to the Mormon Church.At age 18, in 1860,he was ordained as an elder and frequently preached around London. 10 the old time religion 1. The following brief account of George Reynolds’s life and his involvement in the famous polygamy case is drawn from a PhD dissertation by Bruce Arthur...

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