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“Anyone who has ever been confused by a Supreme Court decision or unsure of how to embody religious freedom in their own life now has a lawyer, and a pastor, they can trust.” —Dan McKanan, author of Prophetic Encounters
Books about religion and the law tend to be highly technical or aimed primarily at religious conservatives. In Faith on Trial: Religion and the Law in the United States, legal scholar and Unitarian Universalist minister Mark J. T. Caggiano argues that concerns about separation of church and state often serve to silence the viewpoints of religious progressives, many of whom exit the conversation in the hope of protecting important social issues from religious infighting. But it is impossible to win a debate that you never join, and as Caggiano writes, it is paramount in these times that “religious liberals and progressives cultivate and refine an ability to articulate the need for moral changes within the political system. That goal will require an understanding of the law as well as a moral vision for the world.”
Complete with historical context, legal analysis, and specific examples of cases and statutes, Faith on Trial is an invitation to religious progressives and moderates to help put social progress and inclusion at the center of the national conversation about religion and the law.
“Mark Caggiano’s Faith on Trial is the ideal primer for anyone who seeks to bring their religious values into the public square. Caggiano uses crystal-clear explanations of legal principles, a compelling history of church-state relations in the United States, and illuminating case studies to demonstrate that respect for religious freedom is fully compatible with faith-based activism. Anyone who has ever been confused by a Supreme Court decision or unsure of how to embody religious freedom in their own life now has a lawyer, and a pastor, they can trust.” —Dan McKanan, author of Prophetic Encounters: Religion and the American Radical Tradition
Mark J. T. Caggiano currently serves as minister at First Church in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. A former lawyer, he is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Divinity School and received his Juris Doctor from Boston College Law School. He is also an adjunct faculty member at Boston College Law School, teaching First Amendment law concerning matters of religious rights and the separation of church and state.
Introduction
1. How to Describe a Wall
2. The Legal Basics
3. Handling Snakes
4. Disestablishment
5. Drafting the Bill of Rights
6. Legal Misfits in America: Jews, Catholics, and Latter-day Saints
7. Two’s Company, Three’s a Crime
8. Historical Interlude: The Irish and the Know-Nothings
9. Bible Wars
10. Separation of Church and School
11. Making a Federal Case Out of It: The Jehovah’s Witnesses
12. The Sin in Sincerity
13. Lemony Thicket: Modern Rules About Establishment
14. Sherbert and Yoder: Religious Freedom and the Limits of the Law
15. The Smith Case: The Peyote Road and the First Amendment
16. The Religious Freedom Restoration Act
17. RLUIPA and the Case of Jehovah v. Clarke
18. If You Can’t Beat Them, Join Them
19. Going to and Fro: Religion on Display
20. The New Sanctuary Movement
21. Separation of Church and Politics
22. Conclusions
Bibliography