The Ideas of John Locke

Paper Summary:

This paper takes a look at the philosophies of John Locke focusing primarily on the political concepts of the roles of religion and state. The paper examines Locke's personal religious beliefs based primarily on his 'Letter on Toleration'.

From the Paper:

"To borrow from Locke's famous passage: The law in this case was "not made about a religious, but a political matter," nor was the sacrament of the Native American Church, but the criminal possession of a controlled substance, thereby prohibited. Of course, religious adherents, who are denied unemployment benefits because they practice their religion, will find little solace or comfort in the government's secular justification for such a burden. To use Locke's phrase, the regulation's justification lies in "the interest of the commonwealth." It is not by accident that at this stage of the argument the Court found support for its position in an old case concerning criminalization of the practice of polygamy. The Smith Court cited to the Reynolds Court for the proposition that to allow religious adherents a presumption in favor of their right to free exercise when secular government regulation invades that right is "in effect to permit every citizen to become a law unto himself."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Richard Ashcraft, Religion and Lockean Natural Rights, in Religious Diversity and Human Rights 195, 195-212 (Irene Bloom et. al. eds., 1998), 208
• Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye, Inc. v. Hialeah, 508 U.S. 520, 533-40 (1993)
• Edwards v. Aguillard, 482 U.S. 578, 599 (1987)
• Epperson v. Arkansas, 393 U.S. 97, 109 (1968).
• Harris v. McRae, 448 U.S. 297, 319 (1980) (quoting McGowan v. Maryland, 366 U.S. 420, 442 (1961)).

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