What is the primary purpose of the Lemon Test?

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The primary purpose of the Lemon Test is to assess the constitutionality of laws regarding religion, particularly in the context of the First Amendment of the United States Constitution, which prohibits the establishment of religion by the government. This test was established in the Supreme Court case Lemon v. Kurtzman in 1971 and consists of three criteria that a law must meet to avoid violating the separation of church and state.

These criteria are: the law must have a secular legislative purpose, it must not have the primary effect of advancing or inhibiting religion, and it must not foster excessive government entanglement with religion. This framework is used to evaluate whether governmental actions or laws are respectful of religious freedoms while preventing any state endorsement of religion.

In the context of the other options, taxation laws would not be assessed by this test, nor would election laws fall under its purview. Furthermore, laws limiting the rights of non-citizens are not relevant to the purpose of addressing religious establishment issues, which is the key focus of the Lemon Test.

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