Interpreting the Free Exercise of Religion: The Constitution and American Pluralism / Edition 1

by Bette Novit Evans

Overview

A generation ago, all of the big questions concerning religious freedom in America seemed to have been resolved. At the very least, the lines of division between proponents of a wall of separation between church and state and advocates of religious accommodation seemed clearly drawn. Since then, increasing religious diversity and changing functions of government have raised new questions about what it means to allow the free exercise of religion. In this book, Bette Novit Evans explores the contemporary understandings of this First Amendment guarantee in all of its complexity and ambiguity. Evans situates constitutional arguments about free exercise within the context of theological and sociological insights about American religious experience. She surveys and evaluates several of the most well considered approaches to religious freedom and applies them to contemporary legal controversies, examining problems in defining religion and claims concerning the autonomy of religious institutions. Her conclusions about religious liberty are embedded in an appreciation of American pluralism: the guarantee of religious freedom, she argues, can be understood as an instrument for fostering alternative sources of meaning within a pluralistic political community.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780807846742
Publisher:	The University of North Carolina Press
Publication date:	01/19/1998
Edition description:	1
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.69(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Bette Novit Evans is associate professor of political science at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska.

Table of Contents

Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. The Search for Principles
2. Definitions of Religion under the Free Exercise Clause
3. Burdens to Religious Beliefs
4. The Nature of Religious Exercises
5. The Autonomy of Religious Institutions
6. Threats to Religious Identity
7. Burdens on Religious Exercise
8. Accommodating, Exempting, and Balancing: Religious Freedom and the Political Process
9. The Pluralist Theory of Free Exercise
Notes
Index

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Evans examines the development of the Court's jurisprudence during the twentieth century and particularly during recent decades and demonstrates how difficult the task of constructing a uniform and consistent policy has proved to be. Her incisive and commanding analysis ends with a plea for a pluralist approach.—American Studies

Evans raises provocative questions, and those interested in how a secular government and multi-faith society can accommodate competing religious claims will doubtless find the book engaging.—Free Inquiry

A well-argued and civil contribution to the never-ending debate about religion and public life.—First Things

An immensely well-informed and nuanced treatment of the full range of recent Free Exercise problems, Evans's work is the more impressive because it so carefully and persistently integrates descriptive and normative considerations. This is an engaging and important contribution to the current discussion.—Franklin I. Gamwell, University of Chicago

Evans fills a need in the literature and the law, especially in these times of ferment in the Supreme Court's and the polity's thinking about the two religion clauses of the First Amendment. Her original and thoughtful argument draws on important sources and issues in constitutional law, political theory, and the political science of interest groups. The author knows the landscape of this subtle and hard land.—Donald A. Downs, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Editorial Reviews

ÝI¨ncisive and commanding analysis.

"American Studies"

ÝThose curious¨ how a secular government and multi-faith society can accommodate competing religious claims will doubtless find the book engaging.

"Free Inquiry"

Evans's work is the more impressive because it so carefully and persistently integrates descriptive and normative considerations.

"Franklin I. Gamwell, University of Chicago

Her original and thoughtful argument draws on important sources and issues in constitutional law.

Donald A. Downs, University of Wisconsin-Madison

"Evans's work is the more impressive because it so carefully and persistently integrates descriptive and normative considerations.

"Franklin I. Gamwell, University of Chicago"

"Her original and thoughtful argument draws on important sources and issues in constitutional law.

Donald A. Downs, University of Wisconsin-Madison"

[I]ncisive and commanding analysis.

"American Studies"

[Those curious] how a secular government and multi-faith society can accommodate competing religious claims will doubtless find the book engaging.

"Free Inquiry"

A well-argued and civil contribution to the never-ending debate about religion and public life.

"First Things"

From the Publisher

Evans (political science, Creighton Univ., Nebraska) sets out to provide a comprehensive and systematic account of contemporary jurisprudence regarding the Free Exercise clause of the First Amendment. The author assumes the reader's familiarity with the landmark cases and relevant legal history. She cites Locke, Jefferson, Madison, Burke, and de Tocqueville, as well as such modern political theorists as Alasdair MacIntyre, Charles Taylor, and Peter Berger, and she situates that account in the American political and religious landscape. Using this background, she comments on recent cases involving the Sanctuary movement, public funding in public or private schools run by religious communities, and an Air Force officer's right to wear religiously mandated attire. Evans advocates pluralism as a compromise between liberal individualism and communitarianism. Religious freedom, she shows, can make room for alternative sources of meaning within a diverse, cohesive, and vital civil society. A thoughtful work for academic collections.John R. Leech, Brooklyn, N.Y.

Library Journal