Religious Liberty and the American Founding: Natural Rights and the Original Meanings of the First Amendment Religion Clauses
Vincent Phillip Muñoz
(Author)
Description
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.
Product Details
Price
$36.00
Publisher
University of Chicago Press
Publish Date
August 31, 2022
Pages
352
Dimensions
5.9 X 8.9 X 0.8 inches | 1.05 pounds
Language
English
Type
Paperback
EAN/UPC
9780226821443
BISAC Categories:
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Become an affiliateAbout the Author
Vincent PhillipMuñoz is the Tocqueville Associate Professor of Political Science and Concurrent Associate Professor of Law at the University of Notre Dame. He is the founding director of Notre Dame's Center for Citizenship & Constitutional Government. His scholarship has been cited multiple times in church-state Supreme Court opinions, most recently by Justice Alito in Fulton v. City of Philadelphia (2021) and by both Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Thomas in Espinoza v. Montana (2020).