First Amendment Religious Liberties

In First Amendment Religious Liberties, Tracy L. Cook examines more than six decades of polling data to determine whether there is “a pattern of congruence” between the Supreme Court's interpretation of the First Amendment's religion clauses, on the one hand, and “general public opinion,” on the other (p. 5). If the results are often inconclusive, the book nonetheless provides a highly useful overview of available public opinion data on a host of questions related to church–state relations in the United States. After an introductory chapter and a brief overview of American religious history, Cook provides four substantive chapters on the relationship between Supreme Court doctrine and public opinion. The first examines the court's treatment of religious expression in the public schools. The second covers other types of religious expression on government property, from displays of the Ten Commandments to the use of public facilities by religious groups. The third deals with tax exemptions and other programs that provide direct or indirect financial assistance to religious entities. The final chapter considers the court's free exercise rulings. Cook begins each chapter by organizing the court's major rulings into subtopics (e.g., school prayer, Bible reading in the schools, “released time” programs). She then summarizes the doctrinal rules or standards that have emerged from each group of cases. Finally, she combs through relevant polling data to determine whether the court's thinking has tracked the views of the wider public.

Certiorari · Civil liberties · Concurring opinion · Doctrine · Establishment Clause · First amendment · Free Exercise Clause · Majority opinion · Original jurisdiction · Political science · Politics · Public opinion · Religious organization · Separation of church and state · Sociology · Supreme court · Ten Commandments · American Constitutional Law and Politics · Law · Religion and Society Interactions