Offers insight into the complex relationship between religion and law in contemporary America Why religion? Why law? Why now? In recent years, the United States has witnessed a number of high-profile court cases involving religion, forcing Americans to grapple with questions regarding the relationship between religion and law. This volume maps the contemporary interplay of religion and law within the study of American religions. What rights are protected by the Constitution’s free exercise clause? What are the boundaries of religion, and what is the constitutional basis for protecting some religious beliefs but not others? What characterizes a religious-studies approach to religion and law today? What is gained by approaching law from the vantage point of religious studies, and what does attention to the law offer back to scholars of religion? Religion, Law, USA considers all these questions and more. Each chapter considers a specific keyword in the study of religion and law, such as “conscience,” “establishment,” “secularity,” and “personhood.” Contributors consider specific case studies related to each term, and then expand their analyses to discuss broader implications for the practice and study of American religion. Incorporating pieces from leading voices in the field, this book is an indispensable addition to the scholarship on religion and law in America.

In Law and Religion: National, International, and Comparative Law Perspectives, every chapter supports a broad and dynamic discussion of familiar issues by placing them in global context. Offering extensive international and comparative law materials, as well as Establishment Clause and Free Exercise cases, international experts Durham and Scharffs bring new vision and scope to the study of Law and Religion.

This book argues that despite the tensions existing in all societies between religious faith and legal order, they inevitably interact. In the course of his discussion Berman traces the history of Western law, exposes the fallacies of law theories that fail to take religion into account, examines key theological, prophetic, and educational themes, and looks at the role of religion in the Soviet and post-Soviet state.

The First Encyclopedia available On The Subject Of Religion And American Law The interplay of religion and law has long been a major political and social issue in the United States. From the Salem Witch Trials to the current debate over school vouchers, court rulings have had a profound effect on people's lives. Now, a new encyclopedia provides detailed entries on all of the major Supreme Court decisions dealing with church and state, topical and theoretical essays relating to the issue, and cogent biographies of those Justices whose decisions have achieved landmark status in the debate. Comprehensive In Coverage And Scope Encompassing cases from the colonial period to the Supreme Court's important decisions in 1997, this pioneering volume is written in a clear, concise style that will be useful to professionals and specialists and accessible by students. With contributions by leading scholars in the field, this encyclopedia will benefit all reference libraries, students of law and religion, and anyone working in the field of church and state.

Discussion of the way in which law engages with religious difference often takes place within the context of a single jurisdiction. Religion and Law: An Introduction, presents a comprehensive text for students, drawing on examples from across key Anglophone jurisdictions - the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa, as well as international law, to explore a broad range of issues. Aimed at a non-legal readership, this book introduces the use of legal sources and focuses on factual situations as much as legal doctrine. Key issues arising from interaction of the religious individual and the State are discussed, as well as the religious organisation or community and the State. The interaction is explored through case studies of areas as diverse as the legal regulation of religious drug use, sacred spaces and sacred places, and claims of clergy misconduct.

Until recently English law has lacked any specific, generally applicable, guarantees of religious rights. Thus, bodies of law have developed in particular areas where religious interests arise but without a common legal frame. The Human Rights Act 1998, however, has brought the guarantees of the European Convention on Human Rights, most specifically the guarantees of religious rights, non-discrimination, and education rights, more fully into English law. As well as showing how one legal system has engaged with international obligations in respect of religious rights, this text provides a valuable source for comparative study of religious interests in national jurisdictions. It explores the particular response of the English legal system when faced with religious difference, and considers the extent to which the Human Rights Act may produce significant legal change. The text is aimed specifically at both the legal and non-legal reader, and concludes with a discussion of how to use English legal sources, and an extensive bibliography.