Accommodationism and Religion

Accommodationism, sometimes called nonpreferentialism, is a constitutional doctrine asserting that the First Amendment promotes a beneficial relationship between religion and government. Accommodationism evolved from an interpretive method into a set of constitutional procedures applied when the Supreme Court faces questions of government involvement with religion.

Jurists generally take one of three approaches—secularism, strict separation, or accommodationism—to interpret the First Amendment’s establishment and free exercise clauses concerning religion. Secularism has been defined as opposition to religion in the public arena. In Everson v. Board of Education (1947), Justice Hugo L. Black wrote that separatism asserts a “high and impregnable wall of separation” between church and state. Separatists find any law regarding religion in violation of the First Amendment. Accommodationism rests on the belief that government and religion are compatible and necessary to a well-ordered society. Accommodationists assert that in the First Amendment the framers intended to promote cooperation between government and religion, not neutrality or government hostility toward religion. They argue that because the establishment [Page 57] clause forbids Congress to make laws regarding “an establishment,” rather than “the establishment” of religion, government must not show preference among religions or the religious versus the nonreligious. According to accommodationists’ interpretation, the First Amendment permits governmental actions that promote religion, but not religious institutions.

Accommodationist arguments are usually made when the Supreme Court considers public observances of religious holidays or symbols or religious practice in public schools. Several justices have been accommodationists, including Byron R. White, William H. Rehnquist, Antonin Scalia, and Clarence Thomas. Many predict that Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. will follow in this tradition.

Most critics of accommodationism are secularists, such as Leonard Levy. These scholars argue that the original intent of the framers of the Bill of Rights was not to accommodate religion and government, but to keep each from influencing the other. They reject the accommodationist position that the choice of the word “an” in “an establishment” of religion is critical to understanding the establishment clause. Separatists believe that a close exploration of the First Congress reveals the founders’ desire to erect a “wall of separation” between religion and government. Critics argue that nonpreferentialism introduces sectarian strife into politics, contrary to the goal of the First Amendment. They believe that the doctrine of accommodation to religion would inevitably entangle government with religion, harming both.

Practice of Religious Accommodation