This updated edition of Religion and the American Constitutional Experiment provides a comprehensive, multidisciplinary overview of the history, theory, law, and comparative analysis of American religious liberty from the earliest colonial period through the most recent Supreme Court cases. In accessible, jargon-free language, the authors present balanced discussions of controversial issues, including the funding of religious schools and charities and displaying religious symbols on government property. Three chapters new to this edition cover the free exercise of religion, religion and public life, and religious organizations and the law. In addition, the authors address seven new cases, and an expanded concluding chapter places the American experience in a global context by comparing contemporary American religious liberty law with international human rights standards.

Author Biography

John Witte, Jr., is the Jonas Robitscher Professor of Law and Ethics, Alonzo L. McDonald Distinguished Professor, and Director of the Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University in Atlanta. A specialist in legal history and religious liberty, he has published twenty-three books, ten journal symposia, and 150 professional articles, and has lectured throughout North America, Europe, Israel, Japan, and South Africa. Joel A. Nichols is Associate Professor of Law at the University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis. He holds degrees in both theology and law, and he has authored a dozen articles and book chapters addressing the intersection of theology and religion with constitutional law, human rights, and family law."