Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/18pdf/17-1717_4f14.pdf
Page Number: 70.0

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AMERICAN LEGION  v. AMERICAN HUMANIST ASSN. 

GINSBURG,  J., dissenting 

It guards against the “anguish, hardship and bitter strife,” 
Engel  v.  Vitale,  370  U. S.  421, 429 (1962), that can occur 
when “the government weighs in on one side of religious 
debate,”  McCreary  County,  545 U. S., at 876.  And while 
the  “union  of  government  and  religion  tends to destroy 
government and to degrade religion,” separating the two 
preserves the legitimacy of each.  Engel, 370 U. S., at 431. 
  The Establishment Clause essentially instructs: “[T]he 
government  may  not favor one religion over another, or 
religion over irreligion.”  McCreary County, 545 U. S., at 
875.  For, as James Madison observed, the government is 
not “a competent Judge of Religious Truth.”  Memorial and 
Remonstrance Against Religious Assessments, 8 Papers of 
James Madison 295, 301 (R. Rutland, W. Rachal, B. Ripel, 
&  F.  Teute  eds.  1973)  (Memorial  and  Remonstrance).  
When  the  government  places  its  “power,  prestige  [or] 
financial support . . . behind a particular religious belief,” 
Engel,  370  U. S.,  at  431,  the  government’s  imprimatur 
“mak[es]  adherence  to  [that]  religion  relevant  . . .  to  a 
person’s  standing in the political community,” County of 
Allegheny  v.  American  Civil  Liberties  Union,  Greater 
Pittsburgh  Chapter,  492  U. S.  573,  594  (1989)  (internal 
quotation marks omitted).  Correspondingly, “the indirect 
coercive pressure upon religious minorities to conform to 
the prevailing officially approved religion is plain.”  Engel, 
370 U. S., at 431.  And by demanding neutrality between 
religious faith and the absence thereof, the Establishment 
Clause shores up an individual’s “right to select any reli-
gious faith or none at all.”  Wallace v. Jaffree, 472 U. S. 38, 
53 (1985). 

B 
  In cases challenging the government’s display of a reli-
gious symbol, the Court has tested fidelity to the principle 
of neutrality by asking whether the display has the “effect 
of ‘endorsing’ religion.”  County of Allegheny, 492 U. S., at