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U.S. Code as of:
01/19/04
Section 2000bb. Congressional findings and declaration of purposes
(a) Findings
The Congress finds that -
(1) the framers of the Constitution, recognizing free exercise
of religion as an unalienable right, secured its protection in
the First Amendment to the Constitution;
(2) laws "neutral" toward religion may burden religious
exercise as surely as laws intended to interfere with religious
exercise;
(3) governments should not substantially burden religious
exercise without compelling justification;
(4) in Employment Division v. Smith, 494 U.S. 872 (1990) the
Supreme Court virtually eliminated the requirement that the
government justify burdens on religious exercise imposed by laws
neutral toward religion; and
(5) the compelling interest test as set forth in prior Federal
court rulings is a workable test for striking sensible balances
between religious liberty and competing prior governmental
interests.
(b) Purposes
The purposes of this chapter are -
(1) to restore the compelling interest test as set forth in
Sherbert v. Verner, 374 U.S. 398 (1963) and Wisconsin v. Yoder,
406 U.S. 205 (1972) and to guarantee its application in all cases
where free exercise of religion is substantially burdened; and
(2) to provide a claim or defense to persons whose religious
exercise is substantially burdened by government.
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