Religion and Law in American Society

The following are useful print resources and their associated Dewey/Library of Congress numbers. 

Becker, Carl R.  The Heavenly City of the Eighteenth Century Philosophers.  New Haven: Yale University Press, 1932.

Becker’s book is actually a collection of four lectures delivered at Yale Law School on the reasoning and history of Enlightenment political philosophers.  The professor’s lectures describe the conditions in which the philosophers wrote, the conclusions that they drew, and the implications they had for Western society.  Accordingly, the ideals that emerged from the reasoning of the Enlightenment philosophers had a demonstrable impact on the thought of the United States’ framers, inexorably influencing the capacity of the government to relate to religious entities.  Call: 190 BEC; CIP: N/A

Evans, John H., ed. and Robert Wuthnow, ed.  The Quiet Hand of God: Faith-based Activism and the Public Role of Mainline Protestantism.  Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002.

Responding to recent political trends, The Quiet Hand of God attempts to contextualize recent religious (and primarily Protestant) movements in public policy and political activism.  Given the sizeable movements’ swift and decisive responsiveness to issues they consider moral and important, The Quiet Hand of God is informative on the nature and intentions of the religious elements of America’s political system and their influence on the country’s activities into the future.  Call: N/A; CIP: N/A

Feldman, Stephen M., ed.  Law & Religion: A Critical Anthology.  New York: New York University, 2000.

Feldman’s anthology attempts to address questions about the role of religion in public life by drawing on the expertise of influential writers on either side of the relevant issues.  Subtopics on the issue vary widely in the anthology, including school prayer, public advocacy, and so forth.  It illustrates a relatively current, contextualized, and complex contention between the desires of secularists and values of sectarians.  Call: 342.73; CIP: 00-008899

Fenwick, Lynda Beck.  Should the Children Pray?  Waco: Baylor University Press, 1989.

Responding to case law limiting the authority of state and local governments to compel or support through voluntary activities prayer in public schools and other environments, Beck attempts to contextualize youthful prayer in the law, customs, and history of the United States.  While attempting to address the narrow issue of prayer in schools, Beck offers a valuable historical insight into the social results of the founders’ manipulation of Enlightenment political philosophy into codified law.  Call: 377; CIP: 92-3863

Gay, Kathlyn.  Church and State: Government and Religion in the United States.  Brookfield, CT: Millbrook Press, 1992.

Gay provides a general overview of the issues involved in and history of the debate over the so-called “separation of church and state”.  The topics she examines (in light detail) range from the attitudes of colonists pouring onto the continent from Europe in the seventeenth century to relatively recent disputes over prayer in schools, the Pledge of Allegiance, religion’s role in the Civil Rights Movement, and religious symbols on public property.  While not sufficiently detailed to constitute an authoritative source on any one issue, Church and State sheds light on issues that provide avenues for further investigation into the topic.  Call: 322 GAY; CIP: 91-34753

Haas, Carol.  Engel v. Vitale: Separation of Church and State.  Springfield, NJ: Enslow Publishers, 1994.

Haas provides an examination of the landmark Supreme Court case in which mandatory prayer in school was declared unconstitutional.  In her book, Haas draws on the cultural and legal history of the United States and the activities of the players on either side of the case to attempt to effectively contextualize the ruling in American history.  In addition, she describes the rulings that have followed Engel and the behavior of the Rehnquist court on the relevant issues entering the 1990s.  Haas’ work provides a basis for additional research into referenced case law and the cultural context for much of it.  Call: 344.73 HAA; CIP: 93-26381