Corporate Personhood and Religious Liberty

Abstract

This chapter examines the claim at the heart of Hobby Lobby: do corporations have a right to exercise religion? Gans says no, because this is a personal right tied to conscience, conviction, and human dignity. No court has ever protected the right of businesses to practice religion. On the contrary, courts have refused to grant secular corporations religious exemptions, particularly from laws protecting employees’ rights. Shapiro disagrees because the people behind the company can have their religious liberty violated through actions affecting the corporation. Neither legal form nor profit motive affects the scope of individual rights; the proper inquiry under the law is whether religious exercise is burdened, whether the government can justify that burden, and whether there’s another way to achieve its justified goal.