Religious Liberty, Volume 1: Overviews; Volume 2: Free Exercise Clause

Religious Liberty, Volume 1: Overviews and History
Religious Liberty, Volume 2: The Free Exercise Clause
(Emory University Studies in Law and Religion)
Douglas B. Laycock
Eerdmans 2010, 2011

One of the most respected and influential scholars of religious liberty in our time, Douglas Laycock has argued many crucial religious liberty cases in the U.S. appellate courts and Supreme Court. His noteworthy scholarly and popular writings are being collected in four comprehensive volumes under the title Religious Liberty.

The first volume (2010) gives the big picture of religious liberty in the United States, fitting a vast range of disparate disputes into a coherent pattern — from public school prayers to private school vouchers to regulation of churches and believers. Laycock’s clear overviews provide the broad, historical, helpful context often lacking in today’s press.

The second volume (2011), The Free Exercise Clause, includes articles, amicus briefs, and court documents relating to regulatory exemptions under the Constitution, the right to church autonomy, and the rights of non-mainstream religions. Dealing with religious schools and colleges, sexual abuse cases, the rights of Hare Krishnas and Scientologists, the landmark decision Employment Division v. Smith, and more, this will be a valuable reference for churches, schools, and other religious organizations as they exercise their constitutionally protected freedom.