Sometimes a statute that may seem at first blush to promote a religious belief may survive scrutiny under the establishment clause if the benefit to religion is incidental and the government has a valid secular purpose for its conduct. Metzl v. Leininger, 57 F.3d 618, 620 (7th Cir.1995) (“[A] law that promotes religion may nevertheless be upheld either because of the secular purposes that the law also serves or because the effect in promoting religion is too attenuated to worry about.”). For example, in
McGowan v. Maryland, 366 U.S. 420 (1961), the Court upheld a state's Sunday closing law because many employees would prefer not to work on Sunday regardless of their religion.
Other commonly cited examples are the national observances of Christmas and Thanksgiving. E.g.,
Lynch, 465 U.S. at 675.
Although these holidays have religious origins, their celebration by the government does not connote endorsement in the eyes of the reasonable observer because of the significant secular meaning the holidays now have.
Metzl, 57 F.3d at 620.
