San Antonio College Library

"The Encyclopedia of Religious Freedom contains over 140 entries contributed by scholars from international universities and institutes, with expertise in the fields of religious studies, law, history, ethics, philosophy, anthropology, political science, and humanities. This new encyclopedia offers an unprecedented look at freedom of religion, providing essential information for study of historical and present issues that still affect people, legislation,...

The free exercise of conscience is under threat in the United States. Already the conservative bloc of the Supreme Court is reversing the progress of religious liberty that had been steadily advancing. And this danger will only increase if more conservative judges are nominated to the court. This is the impassioned argument of Religion on Trial. Against Justices Scalia, Thomas, and Chief Justice Rehnquist, the authors argue that what the First Amendment...

The Lustre of Our Country demonstrates how the idea of religious freedom is central to the American experience and to American influence on religion around the world.

This volume provides in a single source a thorough grounding in the origin, development, and current controversies surrounding the free practice of religion. Annotation. Urofsky (public policy and history, Virginia Commonwealth U.-Richmond) offers a reference to high school and undergraduate students who are beginning research into debates about religious freedom in the US. After describing the origins and development of the concept and the establishment...

"In the landmark case City of Boerne v. Flores, the Supreme Court struck down a major federal statute--the Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993. This decision raised questions not only about religious freedom in America, but also about federalism and separation of powers. Using the narrative framework of a tense dispute that divided a small Texas town, Waltman offers the first book-length analysis of the constitutional jurisprudence involved...

"In this provocative work, Frank S. Ravitch redirects the heated debate over prayer in the public schools. He asserts that current legal discourse, which centers this hotly contested issue around First Amendment rights, underestimates the ways in which school prayer fosters discrimination against religious minorities and dissenters. Arguing that traditional Constitutional doctrine is inadequate to address the harmful effects of public school religious...

How did the United States, founded as colonies with explicitly religious aspirations, come to be the first modern state whose commitment to the separation of church and state was reflected in its constitution? Frank Lambert explains why this happened, offering in the process a synthesis of American history from the first British arrivals through Thomas Jefferson's controversial presidency. Lambert recognizes that two sets of spiritual fathers defined...