About Michael Troy Expertise I will answer general questions regarding freedom of speech, petition, or religion. I specialize in cases involving public employment or education, as well as issues related to campaign finance. But I can`t give specific legal advice involving specific cases you might have.
Experience As an attorney for the Center for Individual Rights, I worked on a number of free speech cases, including Rosenberger v. Univ. of Virginia, in which the Supreme Court upheld my clients' right to run a student newspaper without discrimination because of its religious conent. I also worked on White v. Julian, which protected the right of people to protest against a homeless shelter in their neighborhood.
I also worked for the Federal Election Commission on several cases regarding the right to participate in the election process.
Organizations Former Attorney for Center for Individual Rights.
Publications Washington Post
Washington Times
Education/Credentials J.D. from Univ. of Michigan Law School
Question Can you please explain how the establishment clause and the free exercise clause relate to the concept of "separation of church and state."
Answer Hi Iyana,
During the colonial period, Great Britain had an official established religion, the Church of England. All British subjects were required to be members of the church and had to pay taxes to support the church.
Many subjects had disagreements with the church but had no choice but to support it or face government punishment (often execution). This was the reason many subjects decided to come to America where they could practice religion as they wished, not as it was imposed by the government.
A few colonies had State religions, but different colonies had different religions. A number of colonies offered religious freedom, meaning residents could practice whatever religion they wanted, with no government penalty. This meant that there were a great variety of religions throughout the colonies.
In order to avoid the problems caused in Europe by imposing a single state religion on an entire country, the First Amendment included the Establishment Clause, which prohibited the federal government from establishing a State Religion. It also included the free exercise clause, which guaranteed citizens the right to practice their religions however they liked, with no governemnt interference.
Thomas Jefferson described these Constitutional provisions as creating a wall of separation between church and State. By this, he meant that churches would not be subject to government interference in terms of church doctrine or how churches were governed, people were free to joint whatever religion they liked, and government would not have religious doctrines in its laws. In other words the two would remain separate.
