Santeria Religion Case Summary

This case was debating one’s rights to freedom of religion, as stated in the First Amendment. The religion whose rituals and customs were being questioned of its ethicality and religious rights was the Santeria religion. It is not one of the mainstream religions that are taught to us in school, but they too, have their own beliefs, rituals, customs, traditions, and rules. One of the rituals they practiced was the sacrifice of animals. This issue was brought to light when the Church of the Lukumi-Babalu Aye leased land and announced their plans to build a place of worship as well as other establishments in the town of Hialeah, in Florida. In response to the concern of many members of the town, they held a meeting, at which they looked into this religious group and was concerned about some of their practices, specifically the one concerning the act of animal sacrifice. They passed plans aimed to prevent religious animal sacrifice after that meeting. The local laws prohibited Santeria sacrifices, but there were exceptions, including kosher slaughter.

The case was filed against the town of Hialeah. The case was left to the decision of the Supreme Courts because the local court was likely to have bias. The issue in question here was whether Hialeah’s laws aiming to prevent animal sacrifice went against the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment. The town of Hialeah claimed that these local laws were to ensure the safety and health of their citizens, but the court found fault in that. Small numbers of cattle and hogs are allowed to be slaughtered, so the court questioned how this case was any different from religious animal sacrifices. The health risks would be the same whether it is a religious sacrifice or not. The local laws made were concluded to be specifically targeted at religious