Religious Liberty Under the Free Exercise Clause
Author: United States. Department of Justice. Office of Legal Policy
Publisher:
Published: 1988
Total Pages: 188
ISBN-13:
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Author: United States. Department of Justice. Office of Legal Policy
Publisher:
Published: 1988
Total Pages: 188
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOKAuthor: Christopher L. Eisgruber
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Published: 2010-04-10
Total Pages: 346
ISBN-13: 067426326X
DOWNLOAD EBOOKReligion has become a charged token in a politics of division. In disputes about faith-based social services, public money for religious schools, the Pledge of Allegiance, Ten Commandments monuments, the theory of evolution, and many other topics, angry contestation threatens to displace America's historic commitment to religious freedom. Part of the problem, the authors argue, is that constitutional analysis of religious freedom has been hobbled by the idea of "a wall of separation" between church and state. That metaphor has been understood to demand that religion be treated far better than other concerns in some contexts, and far worse in others. Sometimes it seems to insist on both contrary forms of treatment simultaneously. Missing has been concern for the fair and equal treatment of religion. In response, the authors offer an understanding of religious freedom called Equal Liberty. Equal Liberty is guided by two principles. First, no one within the reach of the Constitution ought to be devalued on account of the spiritual foundation of their commitments. Second, all persons should enjoy broad rights of free speech, personal autonomy, associative freedom, and private property. Together, these principles are generous and fair to a wide range of religious beliefs and practices. With Equal Liberty as their guide, the authors offer practical, moderate, and appealing terms for the settlement of many hot-button issues that have plunged religious freedom into controversy. Their book calls Americans back to the project of finding fair terms of cooperation for a religiously diverse people, and it offers a valuable set of tools for working toward that end.
Author: C. Welton Gaddy
Publisher: National Geographic Books
Published: 2008-04-01
Total Pages: 0
ISBN-13: 0807042242
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThe United States is the most religiously diverse nation in the world, due in large part to the clauses of the First Amendment that guarantee freedom for and from religion. But as we debate displaying Christmas trees at city hall and the Ten Commandments in the courthouse, we must ask: in what other ways is our religious liberty being compromised. In First Freedom First, with clear language and recognizable examples, two of the most trusted voices on church-state separation address head-on the many areas where religion and politics overlap, with consequences for all Americans. This book is for anyone concerned about such issues as: * Churches hosting politicians and insisting they give testaments of their faith * Science teachers questioning the theory of evolution in their public school classrooms * Public religious debates on private issues involving end-of-life decisions and reproductive choices * Federal funding for religious organizations, including those that discriminate openly With religion a constant presence in political discussions, First Freedom First offers practical and easy ways to remind our leaders and our community of the importance of keeping religion and politics separate, for the sake of both institutions.
Author: Louis Fisher
Publisher:
Published: 2002
Total Pages: 288
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOKIt is often assumed that the judiciary—especially the Supreme Court—provides the best protection of our religious freedom. Louis Fisher, however, argues that only on occasion does the Court lead the charge for minority rights. More likely it is seen pulling up the rear. By contrast, Congress frequently acts to protect religious groups by exempting them from general laws on taxation, social security, military service, labor, and countless other statutes. Indeed, legislative action on behalf of religious freedom is an American success story, but one that renowned constitutional authority Fisher argues has been poorly understood by most of us. Taking in the full span of American history, Fisher demonstrates that over the course of two centuries of American government Congress has often been in the forefront of establishing and protecting rights that have been neglected, denied, or unrecognized by the Court-and that statutory provisions far outstrip, in both number and importance, the court cases that have expanded religious rights. In this concise and insightful book, Fisher presents a series of important case studies that explain how Supreme Court rulings on religious liberty have been challenged and countermanded by public pressures, legislation, and independent state action. He tells how religious groups interested in securing the rights of conscientious objectors received satisfaction by taking their cases to Congress, not the courts; how public uproar over a 1940 Supreme Court ruling sustaining compulsory flag-salutes resulted in a court reversal; and how Congress intervened in a 1986 ruling upholding a military prohibition of skullcaps for Jews. By describing other controversies such as school prayer, Indian religious freedom, the religious use of peyote, and statutory exemptions for religious organizations, Fisher convincingly demonstrates that we must understand the political and not just the judicial context for the safeguards that protect religious minorities. As this book shows, the origin and growth of an individual's right to believe or not believe—and the securing of that right—has occurred almost entirely outside the courtroom. Religious Liberty in America persuasively challenges judicial supremacists on church-state issues and provides a highly readable introduction for all students and citizens concerned with their right to believe as they wish.
Author: Edd Doerr
Publisher:
Published: 1993
Total Pages: 128
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOKIn 1787, the new United States of America formulated a Constitution, which for more than two hundred years has remained the greatest single advance in the long evolution of democracy and freedom. The authors of the Constitution, fearing the religious intolerance and persecution that was typical of many European governments, deliberately avoided a church-state union and limited the federal government to purely secular matters. The First Amendment explicitly stated, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; ..". In the debate over the separation between church and state, attention is often focussed solely on the national Constitution. The fact is sometimes overlooked that the state constitutions, some of which were written before the federal Constitution, include explicit protections of religious liberty and church-state separation, some even more comprehensive and specific in their guarantees and prohibitions than the U.S. Constitution. All of the state constitutions deal with religious freedom and all support the church-state separation principle. Forty-six states explicitly protect freedom of worship or conscience, while thirty-five states prohibit establishment of any state religion. Interestingly, five states still have provisions requiring that office holders believe in a Supreme Being, despite the fact that the Supreme Court declared these requirements to be unconstitutional in 1961. This comprehensive volume brings together all of the religious-liberty and church-state provisions of the fifty state constitutions. The only work of its kind, Religious Liberty and State Constitutions will serve as a useful referencework for people in the fields of education, law, and religion.
Author: Joseph Bondy
Publisher:
Published: 1927
Total Pages: 54
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOKAuthor: United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on the Judiciary
Publisher:
Published: 1997
Total Pages: 224
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOKAuthor: United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on the Judiciary
Publisher:
Published: 2000
Total Pages: 216
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOKAuthor: Francis Graham Lee
Publisher: University Press of America
Published: 1995
Total Pages: 196
ISBN-13: 9780819198860
DOWNLOAD EBOOKHow were religious minorities treated in colonial times? What role did Catholics play in framing the religious liberty clauses of the First Amendment? How does the Supreme Court apply the sometimes contradictory commands of the free exercise and nonestablishment clauses? All Imaginable Liberty answers these questions in its tracing of the development of religious liberty from colonial times to the present. Articles by historians, political scientists, and lawyers explore the evolution of religious freedom and examine the role of the Supreme Court in extending and defining religious freedom. Francis Graham Lee introduces each section, addressing each article's contribution to the understanding of religious liberty in the contemporary United States.
Author: John M. Swomley
Publisher:
Published: 1987
Total Pages: 168
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThis book examines the political and religious context in which the Constitution and The Bill of Rights were adopted. Swomley reasons that those who wrote and adopted the Constitution and First Amendment intended a strict separation of church and state, a government that would neither aid nor impede religion. Religious Liberty and the Secular State refutes Chief Justice Rehnquist's position that the framers of the Constitution did not intend to ban all religious aid, only preferential aid. Swomley also refutes Rehnquist's claim that the Establishment Clause in the First Amendment was intended to prevent the establishment of a single national church. Swomley concludes that the Constitution was intended to prevent the federal government from establishing one or more churches and to prevent the tax support of churches on any basis. This book exposes the Supreme Court's erosion of the Establishment Clause while emphasizing the Free Exercise Clause. Swomley also explores civil religion, secular humanism, and the current counter-revolution against separation of church and state led by some religious and political conservatives who would profit from government aid. He also lists the benefits churches would realize under a secular government.