Chapter 12

Freedom of Religion
 Any specific system if belief, worship,
conduct,… often involving a code of ethics
and a philosophy
What is Religion? Religion also includes
Definition and scope • Rejection of religion
• Faith and dogma
• Agnosticism and atheism

Freedom of religion includes freedom

from religion, the right to worship
includes the right not to worship.

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S u i t e s
Article 3, Section 5
No Law shall be made respecting an
Religion in the
establishment of religion, or prohibiting the Constitution
free exercise thereof… Provisions of the Constitution
Article 2, Section 5 regarding religion
The separation of the Church and State shall
be inviolable.
Article 6, Section 29 (2)
No public money or property shall ever be
appropriated, applied, paid or used, directly
or indirectly for the use benefit or support of
any sect, church, denomination, sectarian
institution, or system of religion…
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S u i t e s
Separation of Church and State
Was originally and quite adequately The rationale of the rule
expressed by
• “strong fences make good
“No law shall be made respecting an neighbors.”
establishment of religion or
prohibiting the free exercise thereof” • To delineate the boundaries between
(Art.3, Sec.5.) the two and avoid encroachments by

And Art.2, Sec.6., which says that the one against the other
separation shall be “inviolable” • “Render onto therefore unto Caesar
the things that are Caesar’s and unto
God the things that are God’s”
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The wall of separation between Church and State is not a
wall of hostility.
• The State recognizes the influence of the Church in the
enrichment of the nation’s life
• “it instills into the mind the purest principles of morality”
• “the influence of religion is deeply felt and highly
appreciated” by the State

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 To put it simply

No “sponsorship, financial support, and

active involvement of the sovereign in
religious activity” and vice versa

Put it another way

It principally “prohibits the State from

Establishment sponsoring any religion or favoring any
Clause religion against other religions”

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• Board of Education v. Allen, 392 U.S. 236
(Textbooks Case)
• A law required the BoE to lend textbooks free
of charge to all students from grades 7 to 12.
(including parochial schools)

• Diocese of Bacolod v. Commission on

Examples
Separation of Church
Elections, 104, SCRA 510 and State
• A bishop displayed a “tarpulin” with his
preferences among the candidates running for
office

• Held – election propaganda Contoso 7

S u i t e s
Intramural Religious Disputes

Regarding religious dogma and other

matters of faith are outside the jurisdiction
of the State

“ where a civil right depends upon some

matter pertaining to ecclesiastical affairs,
the civil tribunal tries the civil right and
nothing more”

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 Twofold aspect
• Freedom to believe
• Freedom to act on one’s beliefs

The 1st ,The realm of belief and creed is

infinite and limitless bounded only by one’s
imagination and thought

Religious The 2nd, Subject to regulation where the

belief is translated into external acts that
Profession and affect the public welfare
Worship
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S u i t e s
 Freedom to
Believe
The individuals is free to believe
or disbelieve as he pleases.

However absurd his beliefs may

be to others, even if they are
hostile and heretical to the
majority

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 But where the individual
Freedom to Act externalizes his beliefs in acts or
on One’s Beliefs omissions that affect the public, his
freedom to do so becomes subject
to regulation of the state

“Religious freedom… did not create

new civil privileges. It gave religious
liberty, not civil immunity”

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Religious test
It is aimed against clandestine attempts on the part of the
government to prevent a person from exercising his civil or political
right because of his religious beliefs.
• Example: re Summers 325 U.S 561
Militia Service in times of war
Denied admission in the Bar
His religion prohibits him from killing people
Chapter 13
Freedom of Expression

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S u i t e s
 Sovereignty resides in the people,
Importance as an individual “particle of
sovereignty”, every citizen has a
right to offer his views and
suggestions in the discussion of the
common problems of the
community or the nation. This is not
only a right but a duty.

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• A nonviolent manifestation of dissent
reduce the likelihood of violence

• “dam about to burst… resulting in the

banking up of menacing flood of
sullen anger behind the walls of
restriction”
Safety valve
theory
• In order to avoid this, there is a need
for a peaceful methods in making
passionate dissent
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S u i t e s
Scope
• The ideas that may be expressed under this freedom is not confined
only to those that are acceptable to the majority

• The freedom to speak includes the right to be silent

• It includes the right to an audience, the state cannot prohibit the

people from hearing what a person has to say.
This however is not demandable to those unwilling to listen.

• The right to listen includes the right not to listen

“this freedom was meant not only to protect the minority who
wants to talk but also to benefit the majority who refuse to
listen” - Socrates Contoso
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• Usually exercised through language, oral
and written Modes of
Expression
• Symbolisms may also be used like pictures,
caricatures and cartoons. Wordless, they
articulate

• Conduct is treated as a form of speech

sometimes. The communicative element of
the conduct may be sufficient to bring into
play the right to freedom of expression

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S u i t e s
Elements
And basic constitutional provision

Article 3, Section 4. Article 3, Section 18(1).

• No law shall be passed abridging the • No person shall be detained
freedom of speech, of expression, solely by the reason of his
or of the press, or the right of the political beliefs and aspirations
people peaceably to assemble and
petition the Government for redress
of grievances

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Elements
The elements of freedom of expression Restraint upon these freedoms are
are
• Freedom from previous restraint or • Content-based regulation or
censorship censorship
• Freedom from subsequent • Content-neutral regulation
punishment

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 Freedom from It is not lawful to require the
Censorship obtainment from the authorities of a
speaker’s permit before a person may
deliver a speech, or the previous
submission of the speech for their
approval (or disapproval). Neither can
it be provided that no work may be
Censorship need not partake of total published unless it is first cleared by a
suppression; even restriction of circulation
is unconstitutional government censor .
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• Freedom of speech includes freedom after the
speech

Freedom
• In a free society, the individual is not supposed to
speak in timorous whisper or with bated breath but from
with clear voice of the unafraid.
Punishment
• Freedom of expression does not cover ideas
offensive to public order or decency or reputation of
persons, which are all entitled to protection by the
State

• The Lewd word, the obscene word, the seditious

word, the slanderous word, cannot be considered “a
step to truth” and therefore will not enjoy immunity
from prohibition and punishment
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The Clear and Present Danger Rule
• Whether the words used are used in such
circumstances and are of such a nature as
to create a clear and present danger that
they will bring about the substantive evils
that the State has a right to prevent.
• If they do, the speaker shall be punished.

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The Dangerous Tendency Doctrine

If the words uttered create a

dangerous tendency which
the State has a right to
prevent, then such words are
punishable

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The Balance of Interest Test
• There is urgent necessity for protecting the
national security against improvident
exercise of freedom of expression, the right
must yield.
• The interest of the State not being
especially threatened by its exercise, the
right will prevail.

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 Criticism of official conduct
• The official acts, and now even the
private life, of a public servant are
legitimate subjects of public comment
• As long as the comments are
made in good faith and with
justifiable ends.
• Applicable not only to public officer but
also to public figures, like a candidate for
public office
 • Whether an average person, applying

Arts and temporary community standards, would

find that the work, taken as a whole,
Obscenity appeals to the lecherous interest

• Whether the work depicts or describe, in a

clearly offensive way, sexual conduct
specifically defined by the applicable law

• Whether the work, work taken as a whole,

lacks serious literary, artistic, political or
scientific value
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• The right to Assembly is not subject to
previous restraint or censorship. Assembly
and Petition
• Hence it may not be conditioned upon
the prior issuance of a permit or
authorization from the government
authorities

• However if that assembly is intended to

be held in a public place, a permit for
the use of such place, and not for the
assembly itself, may be validly required.
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Test of Lawful Assembly

The purpose for which it is

held, regardless of the
auspices under which it is
organized

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Right of Association
• Article 3, Section 8 provides that “the right of the people, including
those employed in the public and private sectors, to form unions,
associations or societies for purposes not contrary to law shall not
be abridged.
• Societies for social, scientific, cultural, political, religious or other
lawful purposes
• It is included in the Freedom of Expression because the organization
works as a vehicle for the expression of views that has bearing on
the public welfare
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 • The right of access to public documents

Access to is a self-executory constitutional right.

Information
• Article 2, section 28 states the duty of
officialdom to give information even if
nobody demands

• This seeks to promote transparency in

policy making and in the operations of
the government

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Thank You