Church-State Constitutional Issues: Making Sense of the Establishment Clause

(Hardback)

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Church-State Constitutional Issues explores the often-debated and always topical issue of the relationship between church and state as outlined in the First Amendment. Donald L. Drakeman takes an interdisciplinary approach to examine the meaning of the establishment clause, demonstrating how the studies of law, religion, history, and political science provide insight into this relationship, which, since the nation's inception, has been difficult to define. The study first chronicles the Supreme Court's decision regarding the interpretation of the establishment clause from the early 19th century to the present. This legal history is subsequently viewed from a cultural perspective as Drakeman traces both the background of the First Amendment and how the relationship of church and state has developed on its journey through the court system. The volume moves towards further understanding of this complex issue as it concludes with a new interpretation of the establishment clause derived from previous information as well as further legal and political interpretive material.

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Drakeman examines the history of the church and state issues in the US, explores the meaning of the establishment clause in the First Amendment, and proposes a new interpretive framework for preventing government from aiding any one religion or from discriminating against any particular religion. To arrive at his own interpretive framework, Drakeman reviews the context of the Supreme Court's interpretation of the establishment clause by chronicling the most significant constitutional cases from the 19th century until today. Reliance on the Founding Fathers' intent toward the establishment clause is considered flawed because the evidence of their intentions is too sparse, and no clear mandate of their feelings on the separation of church and state is evidenced in historical records. Thus, Drakeman rejects originalism and proposes the use of a religiously nonpreferential endorsement doctrine whereby religion is not given special treatment by the government, yet whereby a religious institution is not singled out as one type of charitable organization ineligible for available government benefits. Upper-division undergraduates and above. * Choice *

Author Bio

Donald L. Drakeman is a lecturer in the Department of Politics at Princeton University, and president of a biotechnology company. He holds a PhD in American religious history from Princeton and a JD from Columbia Law School. He specializes in religion and government issues and American constitutional law. Mr. Drakeman co-edited Church and State in American History: The Burden of Religious Pluralism and has written articles for Rutgers Law Review, Cardozo Law Review, and The Christian Century.