Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/19pdf/18-1195_g314.pdf
Page Number: 53

6 

ESPINOZA v. MONTANA DEPT. OF REVENUE 

GORSUCH, J., concurring 

the  right  to  resign  from  his  job  and  still  collect  an  unem-
ployment check after he decided he could not assemble mil-
itary tank turrets consistent with the teachings of his faith.
See id., at 709–712, 720.  In terms that speak equally to our 
case,  the  Court  explained  that  the  government  tests  the
Free Exercise Clause whenever it “conditions receipt of an
important  benefit  upon  conduct  proscribed  by  a  religious
faith, or . . . denies such a benefit because of conduct man-
dated by religious belief, thereby putting substantial pres-
sure on an adherent to modify his behavior and to violate
his beliefs.”  Id., at 717–718.   

The First Amendment protects religious uses and actions
for good reason.  What point is it to tell a person that he is 
free to be Muslim but he may be subject to discrimination 
for  doing  what  his  religion  commands,  attending  Friday 
prayers, living his daily life in harmony with the teaching 
of his faith, and educating his children in its ways?  What 
does it mean to tell an Orthodox Jew that she may have her 
religion but may be targeted for observing her religious cal-
endar?  Often,  governments  lack  effective  ways  to  control
what lies in a person’s heart or mind.  But they can bring to
bear  enormous  power  over  what  people  say  and  do.    The 
right to be religious without the right to do religious things
would hardly amount to a right at all.

If  the  government  could  intrude  so  much  in  matters  of
faith,  too,  winners  and  losers  would  soon  emerge.    Those 
apathetic about religion or passive in its practice would suf-
fer  little  in  a  world  where  only  inward  belief  or  status  is
protected.  But what about those with a deep faith that re-
quires  them  to  do  things  passing  legislative  majorities 
might find unseemly or uncouth—like knocking on doors to
spread  their  beliefs,  refusing  to  build  tank  turrets  during
wartime, or teaching their children at home?  “[T]hose who 
take their religion seriously, who think that their religion
should affect the whole of their lives,” and those whose re-
ligious  beliefs  and  practices  are  least  popular,  would  face