Religious Freedom Restoration ActIn this article I will describe the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. This act was used to contradict the decision in the court case EmploymentDivision v. Smith, who allowed the government to ban any religious act without giving a reason. RFRA reinstated the requirement for the government to provide adequate reason for prohibiting any religious act. The government had to demonstrate once again that the act had a compelling interest against the state. In 1993, one of the most important laws passed by Congress (Religious Freedom, RFRA Map) was passed. This was the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) of 1993 (Religious Freedom, RFRA Map). This act was passed in response to the 1990 court case Employment Division v. Smith (Questions and Answers, RFRA Map). Employment Division v. Smith was a court case in which the issue was whether "the sacramental use of peyote by members of the Native American Church was protected by the free exercise clause of the First Amendment, which provides that "Congress shall make no law...prohibiting the free exercise of religion'.” (Questions and Answers, RFRA Map). According to Justice Scalia, “if the prohibition on the exercise of religion were merely the incidental effect of a generally applicable and otherwise valid provision, the First Amendment would not be offended.” (Questions and Answers, RFRA Map). Thus, "...the government no longer had to justify most burdens on religious exercise. The free exercise clause offered protection only if a particular religious practice was singled out for discriminatory treatment. In short, free exercise was a subcategory of equal protection. This placed religious rights in a lower position than other First Amendment rights such as freedom of speech and of the press. (Questions and Answers, RFRA Map) This court case gave rise to a series of court cases on religious freedoms (Religious Freedom, RFRA Map). Congress enacted the RFRA to contradict the negative impact that court cases have recently had on religious freedoms (Religious Freedom, RFRA Map The RFRA is that). which states in the title, a restoration act (Religious Freedom, RFRA Map). Congress decided that in EmploymentDivision v. Smith, “the Supreme Court virtually eliminated the requirement for the government to justify burdens on the exercise imposed by religion-neutral laws, and the compelling interest test, as established in previous federal court rulings, is a viable test for striking." reasonable balances between religious freedom and previously competing government interests." (Religious Freedom, RFRA Map) In other words, the government did not have to have a reason to impose laws