Religion-State Relations in the United States and Germany

The relationship between church and state in the United States and Germany has been the subject of important scholarly treatments from law, history, theology, sociology, and political science. The most clarifying contributions have often combined two or more of these perspectives to illuminate a discrete question on the boundary separating religion from government. In her new book on Religion-State Relations in the United States and Germany: The Quest for Neutrality, Claudia Haupt draws insights from history, political science, and law—and within law, Haupt applies comparative, doctrinal, and theoretical analyses—to explore two questions of interest to scholars of domestic and foreign constitutional law: What is the concept of state neutrality? How is it operationalized in Germany and the United States? American scholars in particular will appreciate this book. With reference to Germany, Haupt explains how the United States defines, interprets, and enforces neutrality between church and state. This comparative perspective is valuable in two ways: first, it offers the intrinsic benefit of introducing American readers to a constitutional tradition as rich as theirs; and second, by raising contrasts between two jurisdictions, it is useful instrumentally in identifying what is unique about how the United States Constitution governs the church-state relationship.

Constitution · Constitutional law · Epistemology · Law and economics · Neutrality · Operationalization · Political science · Politics · Sociology · State (computer science) · Subject (documents) · American Constitutional Law and Politics · Law · Philosophy · Religion and Society Interactions · Religion, Society, and Development