Religion and Law in American Society

Online databases v. open web

These databases are available to students and staff of the School District of Springfield Township through subscriptions held by the high school library.  They offer access to material available only in peer-reviewed journals and other particularly scholarly resources not readily available on the open Internet.

SDST-accessible databases in this section

• Student Resource Center on GaleNet, http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/SRC
• Expanded Academic ASAP on GaleNet, http://web7.infotrac.galegroup.com/itw/infomark/1/1/1/purl=rc6_EAIM
• eLibrary Curriculum Edition, http://elibrary.bigchalk.com/
• MasterFILE Premier on EBSCOHost, http://ehostweb14.epnet.com/

Selected content drawn from these databases

GaleNet

Boston, Rob.  “Church-state collision in Congress?  With elections looming and the religious right restive, Americans United’s Legislative Department is gearing up for a rough ride on Capitol Hill.”  Church & State.  59(1): 10.  Student Resource Center.  GaleNet.  Springfield Township HS Lib.  4 Apr. 2006.  http://galenet.galegroup.com/

Boston examines a looming political conflict over religion that should be forthcoming within the next few months.  Boston’s article reveals a subtler facet of the power of religion within American politics; while religious conservatives wielded an enormous degree of influence in the 2004 election by helping to secure George Bush’s reelection and solidifying Republican majorities in both houses of Congress, religious conservatives remain substantially dissatisfied with legislation passed so far.  Their dissatisfaction reveals a difficulty for the movement: while the popularity of the Republican Congress continues to decline in an election-year, will the conservatiev religious movement be able to sustain politically friendly majorities in Congress to permit long sought-after activity on their important issues?  This article provides insight on the potential future of church-state relations through the medium of democracy.

Chaltain, Sam.  “Does the first amendment have a future?”  Social Education.  69(3): 126.  Expanded Academic ASAP.  Springfield Township HS Lib.  4 Apr. 2006.  http://galenet.galegroup.com/

In his essay, Chaltain attempts to explore the future of the first amendment.  He surveys current opinion on the issue and recent legal action on the rights the amendment creates and protects.  He finds, notably, that the nation’s youth are generally unaware of their first amendment protections and that significant portions of the population believe that the first amendment goes too far in the rights that it protects.  Given the first amendment’s protection of religious liberty, shifting opinion on its propriety can reveal insight on its influence on the future of the relationship between church and state.

eLibrary Curriculum Edition

Davis, Derek H.  “Thomas Jefferson and the ‘wall of seperation’ metaphor.”  Journal of Church and State.  45(1): 5.  eLibrary Curriculum Edition.  Springfield Township HS Lib.  4 Apr. 2006.  http://elibrary.bigchalk.com/

Davis’s article attempts to address the perspective of Thomas Jefferson, a founder responsible for crafiting the Declaration of Independence, important in the politics of the state of Virginia, and noted as the third President of the United States, on the issue of the state’s relationship with religion.  Like the perspectives of other founders, the nature of Jefferson’s position on the issue is controversial given the quantity of conflicting quotes and ideas removed from context.  Davis’s scholarly article attempts to address the issue with greater precision than bloggers and activists.

Grenda, Christopher S.  “Revealing liberalism in early America: Rethinking religious liberty and liberal values.”  Journal of Church and State.  34(1): 131.  eLibrary Curriculum Edition.  Springfield Township HS Lib.  4 Apr. 2006.  http://elibrary.bigchalk.com/

Grenda’s article addresses historical influences on the philosophical relationship between church and state in colonial America and the early United States.  Her article is important in addressing the factors that shaped the creation of the constitutional language dictating the relationship in history and in that way is informative about the questions posed here.

EBSCOHost

“A Religious Liberty Amendment.”  American Enterprise Nov./Dec. 1995: 68-69.  MasterFILE Premier on EBSCOHost.  ACCESS PA.  4 Apr. 2006.  http://ehostweb14.epnet.com/

Responding to a percieved trend in the courts of “hostility” to religion, American Enterprise lists and briefly summarizes a series of informative Supreme Court cases decided in the 1980s and 1990s and uses them to advocate for an amendment to the Constitution clarifying the role of religion in society and government.  The article speaks to trends in public opinion and legal theory and is hence important in addressing the questions posed here.