Law Commons^™

Framing The Public Square, Jay D. Wexler

Faculty Scholarship

For at least the past decade or so, law-and-religion scholars have vigorously debated the issue of whether it is proper for American citizens to rely on religious reasons when talking about and reaching decisions on issues of public concern, including law. Those who argue that religion should be kept out of such decisionmaking and discourse contend that reliance on religious reasons: (1) violates principles of separation of church and state, (2) unfairly excludes nonbelievers from meaningful participation in public discourse, (3) creates unacceptable divisiveness, and (4) risks the domination of Christian beliefs in public discourse to the detriment of religious …

Illiberal Liberalism: Liberal Theology, Anti-Catholicism, & Church Property, Philip A. Hamburger

Faculty Scholarship

Liberalism has long been depicted as neutral and tolerant. Already in the eighteenth-century, when Englishmen and Americans began to develop modem conceptions of what they called "liberality," they characterized it as elevated above narrow interest and prejudice. Of course, liberality or what now is called "liberalism" can be difficult to define with precision, and there have been divergent, evolving versions of it. Nonetheless, liberalism has consistently been understood to transcend narrow self-interest or bigotry. Accordingly, many Americans have confidently believed in it as a neutral, tolerant, and even universalistic means of claiming freedom from the constraints of traditional and parochial …

School Vouchers And Religious Liberty: Seven Questions From Madison's Memorial And Remonstrance, Vincent A. Blasi

Faculty Scholarship

In the immediate aftermath of the Revolutionary War, many upstanding citizens of the fledgling state of Virginia were not pleased. They were, in fact, appalled by the decline they perceived in the state of public morals. Newspaper editorials, sermons, and speeches in public assemblies resounded with references to the recent upsurge in gambling, whoring, cockfighting, and public drunkenness. That such departures from the straight and narrow are not uncommon in postwar periods, following all the social dislocations of military mobilization, was no consolation to Virginians eager to show a doubting world that government by the people could work.

The root …

Preparing For The Clothed Public Square: Teaching About Religion, Civic Education, And The Constitution, Jay D. Wexler

Faculty Scholarship

Although law and religion scholars have long argued about whether American culture marginalizes religious belief, many important indicators suggest that religion indeed plays a prominent role in contemporary American life. America is an extremely religious nation. Polls consistently show that about ninety percent of Americans continue to believe in God, and both church attendance and membership remain at high levels. This religiosity, moreover, spills out into the public square. A great many Americans rely on religious reasons when thinking and talking about public issues. Ninety percent of the members of Congress, by one report, consult their religious beliefs when voting …