"Religious Practice" as a Legal Concept (and Practical Theology)

As a parent of a middle-schooler, I was interested to read our middle-school’s policies at the beginning of a new school year. I saw the nondiscrimination policy includes not only no discrimination on the basis of “religion” but also on the basis of “religious practice.” As a practical theologian, this got me interested, and I realized I don’t know very much about the legal status or meanings of the term “religious practice” today. (Nor what its implied contrasts are: Secular or nonreligious practice? Religious belief?) I know about specific contemporary debates about what are usually classified as religious practices in different contexts (wearing a veil/hijab or a cross, or making dietary choices), but I don’t know well how the legal system (in the USA, for example) has been making sense of what religious practice means. Presumably courts decide such questions without much recourse to input from practical theologians. I wonder if any of our APT members or friends have worked on anything related to this topic. I find that learning about definitions and cases regarding religious practice from multiple (including “nontheological”) angles often helps inspire creative thinking in my work, including teaching. I’m curious about thoughts on how legal matters of religious practice relate to practical theology or vice versa…
— Tom Beaudoin, Fordham University