Religious Liberty

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

Religious liberty has been called “the first and most precious of all American liberties” (Bill Clinton upon signing the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act). In a county that sees liberty as its purpose, this statement would suggest that religious liberty is something all Americans agree upon. However, increasingly, religious liberty has become a contested ideal that often seems to divide Americans. This course traces the backstory to religious liberty in America, the controversies that have surrounded it, and the ways in which it has been not only “our first liberty” but also the lens through which the nation has understood and demarcated church-state relations. The course also places emphasis on the specifically religious roots of religious liberty and the ways in which religious communities have become the greatest defenders of religious liberty across the globe today. Key US Supreme Court cases on religious liberty are considered as well as the ways in which religious liberty is conceived and evaluated in other cultural contexts. Do all peoples understand/desire religious liberty as it is understood in the US? Finally, the course invites students to grapple with the relation of religious liberty to the common good. Is religious liberty a concern only for religious communities? Or is it a concern—a most precious one—for all Americans? THEO 4008 , is open to all -- and is also the capstone course for students concentrating in “Religion Politics, and the Common Good” (Theology & Religious Studies)