Synopses & Reviews
Is government forbidden to assist all religions equally, as the Supreme Court has held? Or does the First Amendment merely ban exclusive aid to one religion, as critics of the Court assert? After years of debate the controversy still rages on, with both positions now more solidified but neither side victorious. The First Freedoms studies the Church-State context of colonial and revolutionary America to provide a bold new reading of the historical meaning of the religion clauses of the First Amendment. Synthesizing and interpreting a wealth of evidence from the founding of Virginia to the passage of the Bill of Rights, including everything published in America before 1791, Thomas Curry traces America's developing ideas on religious liberty and offers the most extensive investigation ever of the historical origins and background of the First Amendment religion clauses. While recognizing that history cannot resolve all modern Church-State issues, Thomas Curry does show that historians can make some definitive statements about what early Americans understood by establishment and the free exercise of religion. This pathbreaking study has been adopted by the History Book Club.
Review
"Carefully rooted in the historical setting....Not only historians but also judges and lawyers should consult this book."--American Historical Review
"A balanced and insightful survey."--North Carolina Historical Review
"The writing is clear; the arguments are carefully crafted; the conclusions are judiciously stated. There are flashes of humor throughout....This is a superb and important book that deserves a wide audience."--The William and Mary Quarterly
"Will be immensely useful as a summary of how religious institutions and governments interacted throughout the century and a half of colonial experience."--Reviews in American History
"[An] excellent new book."--Church and State
Synopsis
Is government forbidden to assist all religions equally, as the Supreme Court has held? Or does the First Amendment merely ban exclusive aid to one religion, as critics of the Court assert? The First Freedoms studies the church-state context of colonial and revolutionary America to present a bold new reading of the historical meaning of the religion clauses of the First Amendment. Synthesizing and interpreting a wealth of evidence from the founding of Virginia to the passage of the Bill of Rights, including everything published in America before 1791, Thomas Curry traces America's developing ideas on religious liberty and offers the most extensive investigation ever of the historical origins and background of the First Amendment's religion clauses.
Table of Contents
The New England Way in Church and State to 1691
Church and State in Seventeenth-Century Virginia and Maryland
Church and State in Restoration Colonies
Liberty of Conscience in Eighteenth-Century Colonial America
Establishment of Religion in Colonial America
Religion and Government in Revolutionary America, Pt. I: The Southern States
Religion and Government in Revolutionary America, Pt. II: The Middle States and New England
"Congress Shall Make No Law Respecting an Establishment of Religion, or Prohibiting the Free Exercise Thereof,..."