Constitutional Protections - All Cases Cited Are Supreme Court Cases 

I - The First Amendment

Religious Liberty is uniquely protected under the Constitution.  As stated in the First Amendment, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." U.S. Const. amend. I, cl. 1.  Those protections have been incorporated and held applicable to all the States. Everson v. Board. of Education of Ewing, 330 U.S. 1, 15; Cantwell v. Connecticut, 310 U.S. 296, 303.

The First Amendment guarantees the freedom to "exercise" religion, not just the freedom to "believe" in religion. Employment Division v. Smith, 494 U.S. at 877; Thomas v. Review Board of Indian Employment Security Division, 450 U.S. at 716; McDaniel v. Paty, 435 U.S. at 627; Sherbert v. Verner, 374 U.S. at 403-04; Wisconsin v. Yoder, 406 U.S. 205, 219-20. It guarantees Americans the "right to believe and profess whatever religious doctrine [they] desire." Employment Division. v. Smith, 494 U.S. 872, 877.

According to the Supreme Court, constitutional protections for religious liberty are not conditioned upon the willingness of a religious person or organization to remain separate from civil society. Individuals and organizations do not give up their religious-liberty protections by providing or receiving social services, education, or healthcare; by seeking to earn or earning a living; by employing others to do the same; by receiving government grants or contracts; or by otherwise interacting with federal, state, or local governments.

II - The Constitution protects sincerely held religious beliefs, whether or not central to, or mandated by, a particular religious organization or tradition

The Free Exercise Clause protects beliefs rooted in religion, even if such beliefs are not mandated by a particular religious organization or shared among adherents of a particular religious tradition. Frazee v. Illinois Dept. of Employment Security.,489 U.S. 829, 833-34.  As the Supreme Court has repeatedly counseled, "religious beliefs need not be acceptable, logical, consistent, or comprehensible to others in order to merit First Amendment protection." Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah, 508 U.S. 520, 531. They must merely be "sincerely held." Frazee v. Illinois Department of Employment Security, 489 U.S. at 834.  The Free Exercise Clause also protects not just the right to believe or the right to worship; it protects the right to perform or abstain from performing certain physical acts in accordance with one's beliefs.

III- The Constitution Prohibits Explicit and Implicit Discrimination

Entities may not discriminate against or impose special burdens upon individuals because of their religious beliefs or status. Empl’t Div. v. Smith, 494 U.S. at 877; McDaniel v. Paty, 435 U.S, 618, 627.

The Free Exercise Clause protects against "indirect coercion or penalties on the free exercise of religion" just as surely as it protects against "outright prohibitions" on religious exercise. Trinity Lutheran of Columbia, Inc. v. Comer, Director, Missouri Department of Natural Resources, 582 U.S.