Minority Religions and the Religion Clauses
Author: Thomas C. Berg
Publisher:
Published: 2004
Total Pages: 82
ISBN-13:
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The Religion Clauses
Author: Erwin Chemerinsky
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2020-07-30
Total Pages: 240
ISBN-13: 0190699752
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThroughout American history, views on the proper relationship between the state and religion have been deeply divided. And, with recent changes in the composition of the Supreme Court, First Amendment law concerning religion is likely to change dramatically in the years ahead. In The Religion Clauses, Erwin Chemerinsky and Howard Gillman, two of America's leading constitutional scholars, begin by explaining how freedom of religion is enshrined in the First Amendment through two provisions. They defend a robust view of both clauses and work from the premise that that the establishment clause is best understood, in the words of Thomas Jefferson, as creating a wall separating church and state. After examining all the major approaches to the meaning of the Constitution's religion clauses, they contend that the best approaches are for the government to be strictly secular and for there to be no special exemptions for religious people from neutral and general laws that others must obey. In an America that is only becoming more diverse with respect to religion, this is not only the fairest approach, but the one most in tune with what the First Amendment actually prescribes. Both a pithy primer on the meaning of the religion clauses and a broad-ranging indictment of the Court's misinterpretation of them in recent years, The Religion Clauses shows how a separationist approach is most consistent with the concerns of the founders who drafted the Constitution and with the needs of a religiously pluralistic society in the 21st century.
Securing Religious Liberty
Author: Jesse H. Choper
Publisher: Quid Pro Books
Published: 2013-03
Total Pages: 272
ISBN-13: 1610271726
DOWNLOAD EBOOKAlthough the Constitution of the United States states that there shall be no laws that either establish or prohibit religion, the application of the Religion Clauses throughout United States history has been fraught with conflict and ambiguity. In this classic and much-cited book, a leading constitutional scholar proposed a set of guidelines meant to provide for the consistent application of the First Amendment's Religion Clauses. Jesse Choper's thoughtful and pragmatics guidelines are designed to provide maximum protection for religious freedom without granting anyone an advantage, inflicting a disadvantage, or causing an unfair burden. Although Choper does not call for the wholesale overturning of judicial precedents or established social practices, the standards he has proposed would result in significant--and controversial--modifications to existing doctrines and customs. Choper argues, for instance, that while vocal prayer and Bible reading in public schools should continue to be prohibited, we can and should allow for silent prayer and objective courses in creation science. His standards would also, among other things, eliminate the tax exemption on property used exclusively for religious purposes while allowing parochial schools to receive public funds for the non-religious component of their education. Quality ebook formatting includes linked notes, active TOC, and linked Index and Table of Cases.
Contemporary Paganism
Author: C. Barner-Barry
Publisher: Springer
Published: 2005-03-01
Total Pages: 245
ISBN-13: 1403973385
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThis book explores the legal bias in the United States against Paganism and other non-Christian religions. Despite being one of the most religiously diverse countries in the world, the U.S. legal system developed when the population was predominantly Christian. Built into the law is the tacit assumption that all religions and religious practices resemble Christianity. Using the Pagans as a case study, Barner-Barry shows how their experiences demonstrate that both the law affecting nondominant religions and the judiciary that interprets this law are significantly biased in favor of the dominant religion, Christianity. This creates legal problems, as well as problems of intolerance, for religions with significantly different practices. Special attention is given to a series of Supreme Court decisions interpreting the Freedom of Religion Clause in terms of neutrality and interpreting the Establishment Clause loosely and its impact on nondominant religions in the US.
Masters of Illusion
Author: Frank S. Ravitch
Publisher: NYU Press
Published: 2007-04
Total Pages: 254
ISBN-13: 0814775853
DOWNLOAD EBOOKMany legal theorists and judges agree on one major premise in the field of law and religion: that religion clause jurisprudence is in a state of disarray and has been for some time. In Masters of Illusion, Frank S. Ravitch provocatively contends that both hard originalism (a strict focus on the intent of the Framers) and neutrality are illusory in religion clause jurisprudence, the former because it cannot live up to its promise for either side in the debate and the latter because it is simply impossible in the religion clause context. Yet these two principles have been used in almost every Supreme Court decision addressing religion clause questions. Ravitch unpacks the various principles of religion clause interpretation, drawing on contemporary debates such as school prayer and displaying the Ten Commandments on courthouses, to demonstrate that the neutrality principle does not work in a pluralistic society. When defined by large, overarching principles of equality and liberty, neutrality fails to account for differences between groups and individuals. If, however, the Court drew on a variety of principles instead of a single notion of neutrality to decide whether or not laws facilitated or discouraged religious practices, the result could be a more equitable approach to religion clause cases.
The Religion Clauses and Related Statutes
Author: Eugene Volokh
Publisher:
Published: 2005
Total Pages: 498
ISBN-13:
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThis new casebook is a problem-focused approach to the Religion Clauses and related materials on religion and government. It can also be adapted for teaching using the case method. This book contains not just the leading cases, but also: 1.) problems that provide good vehicles for discussing the law, 2.) a built-in outline of each doctrine, to be used together with the cases, and 3.) structured summaries of the main genres of policy arguments used in Religion Clause cases. It is also relatively concise at 450 pages of text, yet includes not just the purely constitutional material but also the important statutesâe"RFRA, RLUIPA, and Title VII's religious discrimination, accommodation, and harassment doctrines.
The Distinctiveness of Religion in American Law
Author: Kathleen A. Brady
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2015-07-23
Total Pages: 355
ISBN-13: 1316351831
DOWNLOAD EBOOKIn recent decades, religion's traditional distinctiveness under the First Amendment has been challenged by courts and scholars. As America grows more secular and as religious and nonreligious convictions are increasingly seen as interchangeable, many have questioned whether special treatment is still fair. In its recent decisions, the Supreme Court has made clear that religion will continue to be treated differently, but we lack a persuasive account of religion's uniqueness that can justify this difference. This book aims to develop such an account. Drawing on founding era thought illumined by theology, philosophy of religion, and comparative religion, it describes what is at stake in our tradition of religious freedom in a way that can be appreciated by the religious and nonreligious alike. From this account, it develops a new framework for religion clause decision making and explains the implications of this framework for current controversies regarding protections for religious conscience.
The Americanization of Religious Minorities
Author: Eric Michael Mazur
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
Published: 2004-08-05
Total Pages: 0
ISBN-13: 9780801880568
DOWNLOAD EBOOKHow minority religions and the Constitution accommodate each other. What happens when a minority religious group's beliefs run counter to the laws and principles of the American constitution? How do Americans reconcile the conflicting demands of church and state? In The Americanization of Religious Minorities, Eric Michael Mazur recounts the experiences of Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, and Native Americans as cases in which minority religious groups seek to practice their faith in a constitutional order that recognizes a higher authority different from, and sometimes incompatible with, their own. Mazur identifies three basic strategies these minority religious groups can follow: establishing a separate peace; accommodating their theology to political realities; and engaging in sustained conflict. He shows that, in order to practice its faith without hindrance from the law, a member of a religious minority must somehow buy into the principles and values of America's constitutional government. He also concludes that the closer a minority's beliefs are to Protestant Christianity, the easier the accommodation. Throughout, Mazur emphasizes the experience of religious minorities in dealing with this problem. A fascinating investigation of religious groups' right to practice their faith, The Americanization of Religious Minorities will be of interest to students and scholars of American religion, American politics, and sociology. "[I believe] the First Amendment represents the gift with the greatest potential to be given by this country to the world. But I also believe it is a promise that, like the messiah, is always coming but never here. We must understand what we have done to others who have faced the dilemma of being religious minorities in this culture so that we can better understand the limits, and the potential, of our hopes for greater religious freedom."—from the Preface "It has long been accepted that no freedom is absolute, but we do not often examine the implicit boundaries set on religious freedom or think about the ramifications for religious communities that—for any number of reasons—do not consider themselves, or are not considered by others, part of the mainstream. Part of the value of this analysis rests in its exploration of how minority religious communities balance the desire to join the dominant culture, on the one hand, with the sometimes conflicting desire to maintain a particularistic community identity, on the other."—from the Introduction
Religious Liberty in America
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.
Guardian of the Wall
Author: J. David Holcomb
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
Published: 2020-11-13
Total Pages: 247
ISBN-13: 0739149032
DOWNLOAD EBOOKGuardian of the Wall examines Leo Pfeffer's church-state thought and its influence on the U.S. Supreme Court. The book argues that Pfeffer’s understanding of the First Amendment’s religion clauses, shaped as it was by his historical and religious context, led him to advocate a separationist historical narrative and absolutist application of the Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses. Pfeffer’s jurisprudence was pivotal in shaping the U.S. Supreme Court’s interpretation of the First Amendment throughout the last half of the twentieth century. Guardian of the Wall challenges the popular contention that Pfeffer’s separationist philosophy was hostile to religion and sought to remove religion from the public square. Instead, it illustrates how Pfeffer believed a broad reading of both religion clauses protected religious freedom, secured religious equality, and fostered authentic participation of religion in public life. The book concludes by analyzing the Court’s shift away from the strict separation of church and state during the past thirty years and contends that the Court should reconsider Pfeffer’s approach to the First Amendment’s religion clauses.
