The Cambridge Companion to the First Amendment and Religious Liberty edited by Michael D. Breidenbach and Owen Anderson Review by Lael Weinberger Religious liberty has been the subject of lots of debates over the course of American history. The founding period saw debates about state establishments. The nineteenth century was marked by the public-school “Bible…
The Apostolic Faith Mission on Azusa Street, Los Angeles, CA in 1907 / Wikimedia Most observers (and participants!) do not see much if any connection between Baptists and Pentecostals. Baptists are generally known as cessationists — contending that the miracles in the New Testament and the extraordinary spiritual gifts practiced like glossolalia (speaking in tongues),…
Photo by Dyana Wing So on Unsplash This article is part of our “Law, Religion, and the Constitutionalism” series.If you’d like to check out other articles in this series, click here. By wonderful happenstance, this year’s Constitution Day (Thursday, September 17) occurs just two days before Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year and one of…
Photo by Jesse Collins on Unsplash This article is part of our “Law, Religion, and the Constitutionalism” series.If you’d like to check out other articles in this series, click here. The meaning of the religion clauses in judicial opinions has changed dramatically over the last 150 years. Doctrine has shifted, sometimes precipitously. The case law…
Photo by Sean Valentine on Pexels This article is part of our “Law, Religion, and the Constitutionalism” series.If you’d like to check out other articles in this series, click here. This essay was originally published on June 16, 2020 in Cato Unbound: A Journal of Debate The Liberty Bell is one of the most prominent…
Photo of Ludwigsburg, Germany marketplace/ maxmann/ Pixabay/ CCO In his dissent in Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe, wherein the Supreme Court invalidated student-led prayer prior to the start of high school football games, a dismayed Chief Justice William Rehnquist expressed the sentiment of many Americans, that “[t]he Court … bristles with hostility to…
Photo by Joshua Sukoff on Unsplash This article is part of our “Law, Religion, and the Constitutionalism” series.If you’d like to check out other articles in this series, click here. “If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary.…
Image adapted from Wikicommons by DhLeaks44 / CC BY-SA 4.0 “So Help Him God?:The Case of the Prayerful Juror” Matthew P. Cavedon Mother Teresa said that “listening is the beginning of prayer.” One Florida juror listened in prayer and heard the Holy Spirit telling him to vote not guilty. So he did. Did he violate his oath to…
Image adapted from Wikicommons by DhLeaks44 / CC BY-SA 4.0 Two Tracks for Twelve Steps: Rehabilitation and Religious Liberty in Criminal Sentencing Matthew P. Cavedon Right before Christmas 2019, a Canadian man won a settlement after his bosses made him attend Alcoholics Anonymous. Why? The man is an atheist, while the world-famous recovery program’s twelve steps require participants…
Image by Tom from Pixabay The recent Supreme Court decision in Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru and St. James School v. Biel (‘Morrissey-Berru’) has prompted a great deal of debate about the space made for freedom of religion or belief in anti-discrimination or equality legislation. The relevant space typically takes the form of an…