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5 unusual facts about Religious Freedom Restoration Act


Karen L. Henderson

In 2008, Henderson, ruled that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, a statute that applies by its terms to all "persons" did not apply to detainees at Guantánamo.

Patrick Higginbotham

In Flores v. City of Boerne, 73 F.3d 1352 (5th Cir. 1996), Higginbotham upheld the Religious Freedom Restoration Act against the claim that the Act exceeded Congress's powers under the Fourteenth Amendment.

Religious Freedom Restoration Act

Both liberal (like the American Civil Liberties Union) and conservative groups (like the Traditional Values Coalition) as well as other groups such as the Christian Legal Society, the American Jewish Congress, and the National Association of Evangelicals joined forces to support RFRA, which would reinstate the Sherbert Test, overturning laws if they burden a religion.

Seventh-day Adventist Church State Council

In recent years, The Church State Council has promoted the Workplace Religious Freedom Act, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

United States non-profit laws

Under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act many generally applicable state laws regarding employment, zoning and the like are relaxed for churches.



see also

Gonzales v. O Centro Espirita Beneficente Uniao do Vegetal

While no charges were filed, the United States chapter, led by Seagram heir Jeffrey Bronfman, filed suit claiming that the seizure was an illegal violation of the church members' rights; they claimed their usage was permitted under the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act, a law passed by Congress in direct response to the Employment Division v. Smith (1990) ruling, in which the Court ruled that unemployment benefits could be denied to two Native Americans fired for using Peyote.