audiobook On Understanding Japanese Religion by Joseph Mitsuo Kitagawa in History

Description

The Constitution may guarantee it. But religious freedom in America is; in fact; impossible. So argues this timely and iconoclastic work by law and religion scholar Winnifred Sullivan. Sullivan uses as the backdrop for the book the trial of Warner vs. Boca Raton; a recent case concerning the laws that protect the free exercise of religion in America. The trial; for which the author served as an expert witness; concerned regulations banning certain memorials from a multiconfessional nondenominational cemetery in Boca Raton; Florida. The book portrays the unsuccessful struggle of Catholic; Protestant; and Jewish families in Boca Raton to preserve the practice of placing such religious artifacts as crosses and stars of David on the graves of the city-owned burial ground. Sullivan demonstrates how; during the course of the proceeding; citizens from all walks of life and religious backgrounds were harassed to define just what their religion is. She argues that their plight points up a shocking truth: religion cannot be coherently defined for the purposes of American law; because everyone has different definitions of what religion is. Indeed; while religious freedom as a political idea was arguably once a force for tolerance; it has now become a force for intolerance; she maintains. A clear-eyed look at the laws created to protect religious freedom; this vigorously argued book offers a new take on a right deemed by many to be necessary for a free democratic society. It will have broad appeal not only for religion scholars; but also for anyone interested in law and the Constitution.