How Free Can Religion Be?

Front Cover
University of Illinois Press, May 31, 2006 - Law - 286 pages

In tracking the evolution of the First Amendment's Free Exercise and Establishment Clause doctrine through Key Supreme Court decisions on religious freedom, legal scholar Randall P. Bezanson focuses on the court's shift from strict separation of church and state to a position where the government accommodates and even fosters religion. Beginning with samples from the latter half of the nineteenth century, the detailed case studies present new problems and revisit old ones as well: the purported belief of polygamy in the Mormon Church; state support for religious schools; the teaching of evolution and creationism in public schools; Amish claims for exemption from compulsory education laws; comparable claims for Native American religion in relation to drug laws; and rights of free speech and equal access by religious groups in colleges and public schools.

From inside the book

Contents

Introduction
1
Separation of Church and State
7
The Time of Testing
49
Stage III The New Awakening
147
Religion in America
273
Suggested Reading
281
Index
285
Copyright

Other editions - View all

Common terms and phrases

About the author (2006)

Randall P. Bezanson is the David H. Vernon Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Iowa. He is the author of many books, including "How Free Can the Press Be?"

Bibliographic information