The "no religious test" clause of the United States Constitution is cited by advocates of separation of church and state as an example of "original intent" of the Framers of the Constitution of avoiding any entanglement between church and state, or involving the government in any way as a determiner of religious beliefs or practices.
The clause is found in the last section of the original Constitution as drafted in 1787 excepting the Ratification Clause (describing under what circumstances the government established by the new document would come into effect). Article VI, section 3, concludes "but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States." This clause immediately follows one requiring all federal and state officers to take an oath of support to the Constitution. This implies that the requirement of an oath, even presumably one taken "So help me God" (not a part of the presidential oath, the only one spelled out in the Constitution, but traditionally always added to it), does not imply any requirement by those so sworn to accept a particular religion or a particular doctrine.
This has been interpreted to mean that no federal employee, whether elected or appointed, "career" or "political", can be required to adhere to or accept any religion or belief. This is important as this clause represents the words of the original Framers, even prior to the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. Earlier in U.S. history, the doctrine of states' rights allowed individuals states to choose not to have this provision in their state constitutions or even to have an opposite provision; such provisions have by extension in recent decades been deemed to be unconstitutional by the extension of the First Amendment provisions to the states.
However, the federal courts have also embraced the principle that no citizens religious beliefs may be employed by the government to disqualify that citizen from either public office in particular or political participation in general.
In addition, the religious motive analysis provides sustenance to a political culture in which citizens are taught that any public disclosure of their beliefs that serve to motivate a legislative proposal may result in the judiciarys rejection of that proposal regardless of its content or the reasons offered for the proposal.
Citizens and legislators are often motivated by their religious beliefs to influence the institutions of government and to craft laws and policies that affect the trajectory of their communities.
This has been interpreted to mean that no federal employee, whether elected or appointed, "career" or "political", can be required to adhere to or accept any religion or belief.
The clause is cited by advocates of separation of church and state as an example of "original intent" of the Framers of the Constitution of avoiding any entanglement between church and state, or involving the government in any way as a determiner of religious beliefs or practices.
This is important as this clause represents the words of the original Framers, even prior to the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.
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