Présentation de l'éditeur

An insightful rethinking of the meaning of the First Amendment’s protection of religious freedom.

The Founders understood religious liberty to be an inalienable natural right. Vincent Phillip Muñoz explains what this means for church-state constitutional law, uncovering what we can and cannot determine about the original meanings of the First Amendment’s Religion Clauses and constructing a natural rights jurisprudence of religious liberty.  

Drawing on early state constitutions, declarations of religious freedom, Founding-era debates, and the First Amendment’s drafting record, Muñoz demonstrates that adherence to the Founders’ political philosophy would lead neither to consistently conservative nor consistently liberal results. Rather, adopting the Founders’ understanding would lead to a minimalist church-state jurisprudence that, in most cases, would return authority from the judiciary to the American people. Thorough and convincing, Religious Liberty and the American Founding is key reading for those seeking to understand the Founders’ political philosophy of religious freedom and the First Amendment Religion Clauses.

Sommaire

Introduction. Natural Rights and the First Amendment Religion Clauses

Part 1 Philosophy: The Founders’ Political Philosophy of Religious Liberty

Chapter 1 The Founders’ First Agreement: The Natural Right of Religious Liberty Is Possessed by All Individuals

Chapter 2 The Founders’ Second Agreement: Society Compact Theory, Freedom of Worship, and Religious Liberty as an Inalienable Right

Chapter 3 The Foundations of the Founders’ Agreements: The Founders’ Philosophies and Theologies of the Natural Right of Religious Liberty

Chapter 4 The Founders’ Disagreement: Natural Rights and the Separation of Church from State

Part 2 Constitutional Originalism: The Original Meanings of the Religion Clauses

Chapter 5 The Original Meaning of the Establishment Clause

Chapter 6 The Original Meaning of the Free Exercise Clause

Part 3 Constitutional Meaning: Constructing the Religion Clauses

Chapter 7 Natural Rights Constructions of the First Amendment’s Religion Clauses

Chapter 8 How the Natural Rights Constructions Would Adjudicate Actual Cases

Conclusion. Should We Adopt the Natural Rights Constructions?