The Constitution & Religion: Leading Supreme Court Cases on Church and State / Edition 1

by Robert S. Alley

Overview

This superb collection chronicles the most important Supreme Court cases on church-state relations over the past three decades. It includes extensive coverage of the Court's major decisions concerning prayer in state legislatures, the pledge of allegiance, display of the Ten Commandments in public buildings, religious displays on public property, school prayer, vouchers for religious schools, religion in science class, and much more.Beginning with a carefully prepared historical overview, which places the first amendment in the context of 18th-century debates over religious freedom, Robert Alley offers a fresh analysis of the amendment's origins. He then presents fifty recent and historical cases without editorial comment, permitting readers to arrive at their own individual interpretations. In addition to the text of the majority decision, each case is followed by the vote of the justices as well as selected dissenting opinions.Unlike news accounts and other texts, this unique volume is the only objective presentation of the justices' decisions, in the Court's own words, and it includes the entire canon of subjects that bear the label "church and state."This clearly written, accessible book will be valuable for classroom use, as a library resource, and as an excellent introductory reader for anyone interested in what the Supreme Court has decided on religion in public places and schools.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781573927031
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	10/01/1999
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	450
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Robert S. Alley (Richmond, VA) is professor emeritus of humanities at the University of Richmond. He is the author of Without a Prayer: Religious Expression in Public Schools and School Prayer: The Court, the Congress, and the First Amendment, and the editor of James Madison on Religious Liberty.

Editorial Reviews

A collection of primary documents in which Alley (humanities, U. of Richmond) offers no commentary of his own besides selection. For 50 US Supreme Court cases on relations between the church and state over the past three decades, he presents the full text of the decisions, the vote of the justices, and selected dissenting opinions. The cases involve prayer in state legislatures, the pledge of allegiance, displaying the Ten Commandments in public buildings, religious displays on public property, school prayers, vouchers for religious schools, religion in science class, and other topics. He includes no index. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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