The Impossibility of Religious Freedom Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Impossibility of Religious Freedom - Essay Example The arguments leading to the determination of the case are in themselves suggestive of the position taken by Sullivan. The court’s determination argument, the free religious practice of rights must be based on a sincerely held religious belief†¦Moreover, that Holt proved it, by being neither slight nor idiosyncratic with tenets of Islam is arbitrary. The argument as explained by Sullivan essentially means that it rests with the courts to debate and establish whether or not the religiously-motivated practices are enjoying protection under the first amendment of the constitution. The court had to determine the growth of mustache was sincerely and genuinely motivated by the Islam religion. The condition in itself amounts to a violation of the religious freedom in the sense that the interrogation of legitimacy. Sullivan ably supports his position that â€Å"through interrogating the legitimacy of religious behavior in this first instance, the court fundamentally destroys the very idea of religious freedom. He continues, By requiring authentication of the religious motivation, the courts extend free exercise clause onto the behavior that is legitimized by virtue of external proofs like sacred texts, clerical pronouncements, widespread adherence or historical tradition. The argument implies that by the courts attempting to widen the scope of free practice, to accommodate all the subjective and unsubstantiated claims of motivating religion, they risk subjecting all the laws to exceptions.