Description
Book SynopsisSteven K. Green, renowned for his scholarship on the separation of church and state, charts the career of the concept and helps us understand how it has fallen into disfavor with many Americans.
In 1802, President Thomas Jefferson distilled a leading idea in the early American republic and wrote of a wall of separation between church and state. That metaphor has come down from Jefferson to twenty-first-century Americans through a long history of jurisprudence, political contestation, and cultural influence. This book traces the development of the concept of separation of church and state and the Supreme Court''s application of it in the law.
Green finds that conservative criticisms of a separation of church and state overlook the strong historical and jurisprudential pedigree of the idea. Yet, arguing with liberal advocates of the doctrine, he notes that the idea remains fundamentally vague and thus open to loose interpretation in the courts. As such, the h
Trade Review
This book opens an interesting dialogue about the concept in the early days of the Constitution, which is of particular importance to recent religion cases decided by the Supreme Court and to all looking to understand the Court's religious jurisprudence.
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Table of ContentsIntroduction
1. Historical Antecedents of Separationism
2. Disestablishment and Separationism
3. The Early National Period
4. The Protestant Establishment of the Nineteenth Century
5. Separation Becomes Constitutional Canon
6. Separation's Apex and Decline
Conclusion
