{"data":{"id":"us-mt/27-33-102","jurisdiction":"us-mt","citation":"27-33-102","heading":"Legislative findings.","body":"The legislature finds that:\n(1) the framers of the United States constitution, recognizing free exercise of religion as an unalienable right, secured its protection in the first amendment to the United States constitution;\n(2) the framers of the Montana constitution, recognizing free exercise of religion as a fundamental right, secured its protection in the Montana constitution;\n(3) laws and other state action that are neutral toward religion may burden the exercise of religion as surely as laws intended to interfere with religious exercise;\n(4) state action should not burden exercise of religion without compelling justification;\n(5) prior to 1990, laws and other state action burdening exercise of religion had to be justified by a compelling governmental interest; and\n(6) the compelling governmental interest test set forth in prior federal court rulings and this part is a workable test and strikes a sensible balance between religious liberty and competing governmental interests.","path":["TITLE 27. CIVIL LIABILITY, REMEDIES, AND LIMITATIONS","CHAPTER 33. MONTANA RELIGIOUS FREEDOM RESTORATION ACT","Part 1. General Provisions"],"source_url":"https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0270/chapter_0330/part_0010/section_0020/0270-0330-0010-0020.html","current_through":"Montana Code Annotated 2025","vintage":"","retrieved_at":"2026-09-14T04:50:40Z","sha256":"68f9ccd45bf3ca3477b6246893528e300850aefa16a1f3a2b86380a17ee40319","source_id":"us-mt","stale":false,"prev":"us-mt/27-33-101","next":"us-mt/27-33-103"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}