728 x 90



  • Powerless Prayer0

    Despite the First Amendment’s ban on government establishments of religion, opening government meetings with prayer is a longstanding tradition in many American communities. Indeed, in Marsh v. Chambers (1983) the U.S. Supreme Court upheld chaplain-led prayers before the Nebraska state legislature after a Nebraska lawmaker challenged the prayers as an unconstitutional advancement of religion. The

    READ MORE
  • A Divine Project0

    In Wallace v. Jaffree (1985) the late Chief Justice William Rehnquist wrote that the “wall of separation between Church and state ” was a “metaphor based on bad history, a metaphor” that “should be frankly and explicitly abandoned.” The history Rehnquist was referring to is of the formulation of the metaphor by Thomas Jefferson and

    READ MORE
  • My Constitution0

    On the desk beside me is a booklet titled The Constitution of the United States, with an impressive picture of George Washington on its cover. In the forefront of the booklet are a number of quotations by Washington, an introduction to the booklet, and in the rear an index, a page with dates to remember

    READ MORE
  • Clause and Effect0

    he history of how the nation’s Founders empowered American religious freedom has been well documented over centuries of legal arguments, court proceedings, public discussions, and historical analyses. Lectures on the importance of Jefferson’s letter to the Danbury Baptists, or the significance of the First Amendment’s establishment and free exercise clauses are commonplace enough today, while

    READ MORE
  • Holy Land Blues0

    In the hostile atmosphere of Israel/Palestine, liberty and tolerance are losers all around, and religion is part of the unpleasant mix. Let us begin with the Palestinian scene. We have, in effect, two Palestines: Gaza and the West Bank; and the ruling faction of each wants to represent both. To understand more of their mutual

    READ MORE
  • The Right to Wrong Hair0

    As so often with these cases, it could appear like much ado about nothing, or about only a little.Arocha v. Needville Independent School District was no exception. On the surface, prima facie, it was simply a case of dress code compliance for a 5-year-old in a public school kindergarten. Hardly epochal stuff, yet the principle

    READ MORE