God vs. the Gavel: Religion and the Rule of Law - Hardcover

Hamilton, Marci A.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0521853044 ISBN 13: 9780521853040

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2005

Synopsis

God vs. the Gavel challenges the pervasive assumption that all religious conduct deserves constitutional protection. While religious conduct provides many benefits to society, it is not always benign. The thesis of the book is that anyone who harms another person should be governed by the laws that govern everyone else - and truth be told, religion is capable of great harm.

About this title

About the Author

Marci A. Hamilton is a leading and internationally recognized constitutional expert specializing in church/state relations. She is a leading national expert on the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and is involved in cutting edge First Amendment litigation, involving clergy abuse (on behalf of victims) and land use (Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act).

Reviews

In this intelligent and forcefully argued book, Hamilton, a self-professed former "Polyanna" when it comes to religion, explores the thorny conflicts between religion and society, detailing how some religious groups and institutions misuse laws intended to protect religious freedoms to justify child abuse, employment discrimination and other ills. She is vocal in her criticism of efforts to exempt religious groups from the laws secular organizations must abide by, saving particular disdain for deal-making lawmakers, whom she compares to "hear-no-evil, see-no-evil, speak-no-evil monkeys." Hamilton dedicates about half of the book to examining six broad areas where religious groups enjoy special treatment-from marriage laws to preferential treatment within prisons to land use and local zoning ordinances. Passionately argued throughout, the book seems almost like Hamilton's atonement for her previous stance on these issues. (She quotes herself in the opening as having written 11 years ago that "the exercise of religion should trump most governmental regulation.") Certainly of interest to those in the judicial and legislative realms, Hamilton has written this book for the average reader, though some may be confused by the myriad legal precedents and her descriptions of legislative maneuvering.
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The First Amendment is stirring second thoughts among scholars wary of the social and legal consequences of religious liberty. Hamilton investigates numerous contentious religious issues-from headline cases in which Catholic clergy have sought clerical immunity for alleged acts of child abuse to obscure episodes in which Sikh parents have protested against school policies preventing sons from carrying ceremonial knives. But all of the various episodes Hamilton chronicles ultimately underscore one simple thesis: Americans' right to believe whatever religious doctrines they choose deserves absolute protection; Americans' right to act on religious belief should end whenever such actions harm or endanger others. It will disturb some readers that Hamilton invokes her largely negative view of American religionists as justification for giving secular politicians expansive powers to curb religious excesses, but as religious belief continues to diversify in multicultural America, the urgency of the issues here raised guarantees Hamilton many interested readers. Bryce Christensen
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0521853044
• ISBN 13: 9780521853040
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 428