ABSTRACT
Pennsylvania’s anti-religious-garb statute was the first of its kind in the United States. It was enacted in response to the 1894 Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision, which permitted Catholic nuns to wear religious garb while teaching in public schools. Since 1894, there have been eleven court cases that have directly addressed the question of public schoolteachers’ religious garb in the United States, nine of which were heard by state Supreme Courts that applied state laws. The Mississippi Supreme Court was the only state court in the United States 125-year history on public schoolteachers’ religious garb that took up the federal question of the US Constitution’s Free Exercise Clause. The Pew Research Center found that thirty-nine countries have enacted laws or issued policies “limiting women’s ability to wear religious attire” in 2012-2013, which is blatant gender discrimination. This study further reinforced earlier studies that correlate increases in regulation of religion with increases in social hostilities.
