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Full-Text Articles in Law
Religions As Sovereigns: Why Religion Is "Special", Elizabeth Clark
Religions As Sovereigns: Why Religion Is "Special", Elizabeth Clark
Faculty Scholarship
Commentators increasingly challenge religion’s privileged legal status, arguing that it is not “special” or distinct from other associations or philosophical or conscientious claims. I propose that religion is “special” because it functions metaphorically as a legal sovereign, asserting supreme authority over a realm of human life. Under a religion-as-sovereign theory, religious freedom can be understood as at least partial deference to a religious sovereign in a system of shared or overlapping sovereignty. This Article suggests that federalism, which also involves shared sovereignty, can provide a useful heuristic device for examining religious freedom. Specifically, the Article examines a range of federalism …
The Permissible Scope Of Legal Limitations On The Freedom Of Religion Or Belief In The United States, Frederick Mark Gedicks
The Permissible Scope Of Legal Limitations On The Freedom Of Religion Or Belief In The United States, Frederick Mark Gedicks
Faculty Scholarship
This article summarizes the law of legal limitations on religious freedom in the UnitedStates, including sources and hierarchies of applicable law, structural limitations on religious freedom, grounds for limiting such freedom, an analytical description oflimitations, and background influences on limitations law, and applies this law to hypothetical situations.
Federal judicial decisions interpreting the Religion Clauses are the principal source oflimitations law in the United States. RLUIPA and RFRA, federal anti-discrimination statutes, and executive orders are other important sources of religious freedom law. State constitutions, statutes, and regulations are important sources law when federal sources are absent or inapplicable. International human …