Legal Question in Constitutional Law in Illinois

Re: What law(s) to protect the constitution of ''Separation of Church and State?

Government funding of religion in any aspect violates the clear intent of the constitution.

So long as there are people, there will be frauds which attempt to circumvent this requirement.

It is not religion which attempts to proceed under the guise of science, but christianity which does so, arising out of its profound inferiority complex which compels it to attempt to force all to adhere to its mold.

Religion by any other name is still religion and government is forbidden to support it by the requirements of the First Amendment.

Re: What law(s) to protect the constitution of ''Separation of Church and State?

The First Amendment actually does not mention the concept of separation of church and state. Instead, it says only that the government cannot make any law respecting the establishment of an official religion and cannot interfere in citizens' free exercise of their religious beliefs. It would take many hundreds of pages to adequately explain how these rules have been interpreted and what they mean in real life.

Every year several cases come to the Supreme Court seeking to clarify one or more aspects of this area of law, and basically all of them are decided by a 5-4 vote. Four of the nine justices seem to consistently vote one way and four vote the other way, so, in practical terms, the line between church and state seems to be whatever Justice Sandra Day O'Connor decides it is.

Generally speaking, government cannot subsidize a religious organization's religious work but it can subsidize non-religious activities. This creates a grey area, because such subsidies allow the religious organization to redirect funds to its religious operations which would otherwise have gone to other programs. Thus, for example, a parochial school which gets $10,000 from the government for computers it would otherwise have paid for could choose to spend the funds on religious education.

Basically, your question seeks a clear and concise answer in an area of law where such an answer really isn't possible. If you can be more specific about the situation that led to your question, I may be able to offer a more useful reply.