Digital Commons Network^™

The Vietnam Draft Cases And The Pro-Religion Equality Project, Bruce Ledewitz

Bruce Ledewitz

The Last Days Of Erastianism: Forms In The American Church-State Nexus, Robert E. Rodes

Robert Rodes

In the long history of Christendom, an Erastian view of the relation between Church and State has existed in tension with a High Church view. This paper explores the current state of our current shopworn Erastian-like church-state nexus and considers what forces may bring a more relevant and effective institutional High Church witness into being. The fact that the United States has an Erastian-like church-state relation is borne out in a line of cases involving the judicial resolution of intra-church disputes and the effect to be given the mandates of ecclesiastical authority. It is also borne out in legislative and …

Pluralist Christendom And The Christian Civil Magistrate, Robert E. Rodes

Robert Rodes

The intersection of church and state today differs greatly from the symbiotic relationship of the past. This paper traces and critiques the advent and development of the Christian-government relationship down through the centuries to its current form. It finds that, and discusses how, current Christendom is split between a High Church attitude, which depicts the Church as above the state and outside of the state's limitations, and an Erastian approach, which views the Church as in dialogue with the state and as subject to the same limitations as other social institutions. Finally, the paper discusses the key differences between a …

Pluralist Establishment: Reflections On The English Experience, Robert E. Rodes

Robert Rodes

England's historical and current synthesis of Church and State differs greatly from other European and American experiences. It contrasts sharply with the path taken by most states, which chose to cope with religious pluralism by privatizing religion and by trying to base public life on secular views of human nature. This paper reviews the unique inception, and continuance, of the church-state throughout English history. It also reviews the unique manner in which England chose to deal with religious pluralism while maintaining its established church. After reviewing the English experience of establishment of religion, this paper concludes that the total wall …

Religion, Division, And The First Amendment, Richard W. Garnett

Richard W Garnett

Nearly thirty-five years ago, in Lemon v. Kurtzman, Chief Justice Warren Burger declared that state programs or policies could excessive(ly) - and, therefore, unconstitutionally - entangle government and religion, not only by requiring or allowing intrusive public monitoring of religious institutions and activities, but also through what he called their divisive political potential. Chief Justice Burger asserted also, and more fundamentally, that political division along religious lines was one of the principal evils against which the First Amendment was intended to protect. And from this Hobbesian premise about the inten(t) animating the First Amendment, he proceeded on the assumption that …

The No Religious Test Clause And The Constitution Of Religious Liberty: A Machine That Has Gone Of Itself, Gerard V. Bradley

Gerard V. Bradley

The article VI ban on religious tests for federal offices is the sole provision on the topic of religion in the original Constitution. Since the seminal Everson decision in 1947 the courts and commentators have labored mightily to craft a thoroughgoing constitutional philosophy of church and state, in recognition of the profoundly problematic relationship between religion and law in our society. Yet none has looked carefully at the test clause for guidance. This Article does just that. Professor Bradley argues that notwithstanding the complete absence of attention to article VI, its story tells us all we need to know about …

Hosanna-Tabor In The Religious Freedom Panopticon, Peter G. Danchin

Peter G. Danchin

No abstract provided.