Forgotten Purposes of the First Amendment Religion Clauses
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6399286 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Gary D Glenn (corresponding author) |
| Year | 1987 |
| Volume | 49 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 340-367 |
| Publication date | 1987-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Review of Politics (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0034-6705 • E-ISSN: 1748-6858 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0034670500034446 |
| OpenAlex | W2069520448 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 22 |
This study questions a prevalent view of the First Amendment religion clauses which maintains they were intended to establish neutrality of the federal government between religion and nonreligion and thereby to establish not merely governmental religious pluralism but governmental secularism. Since the Bill of Rights is said to have been adopted to satisfy anti-Federalist objections to the original Constitution, what they said about religion in the ratification debates is comprehensively examined. They turn out to have been primarily concerned that the unamended Constitution was particularly dangerous to and tilted against religion. Hence they wanted not simply to prevent the new government from infringing on “religious liberty” (of individuals or states) but to redress the unamended Constitution's actual or potential tilt against religion. The First Congress debates are then examined from this rather different perspective to see what effect this concern may have had on the First Amendment religion clauses. It is argued that this concern produced a more complex constitutional position on religion and religious liberty than is commonly maintained. This position is not simply Madison/Jefferson separationism but a compromise which to some extent redressed the original Constitution's tilt against religion
Compromise · Constitution · Constitutional amendment · Epistemology · Establishment Clause · Federalist · First amendment · Free Exercise Clause · Freedom of Religion · Human rights · Limited government · Neutrality · Pluralism (philosophy · Political science · Politics · Ratification · Secularism · Supreme court · American Constitutional Law and Politics · Law · Philosophy · Religion and Society Interactions
Documents of American history.
The naked public square
The Complete Anti-Federalist
A Letter Concerning Toleration
Documents of American History
The Constitution and What It Means Today
The First Amendment and the Future of American Democracy
The Establishment Clause
House of Representatives Journal
Senate Legislative Journal
Treaties and Other International Acts of the United States of America
The First Freedoms
The Bill of Rights
Madison
| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,06 |
| Citation span | 1991 - 2000 (10) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 2 |