Religious Liberty Collection (5 vols.)

by Douglas Laycock

Publisher:

Eerdmans

, 2010–2018

Overview

One of the most respected and influential scholars of religious liberty in our time, Douglas Laycock has argued many crucial religious liberty cases in the U.S. appellate courts and Supreme Court. His noteworthy scholarly and popular writings are being collected in five comprehensive volumes under the title Religious Liberty.

Key Features

• Includes a comprehensive collection of religious liberty legislation
• Presents material in an accessible way

Praise for the Print Edition

Any person who cares about religious liberty in America (and we should all be greatly concerned about its increasingly fragile condition) needs to read Douglas Laycock. Anyone who wants to understand the religious liberty battles being fought in today’s legislatures, courts, culture, and media will be enlightened by reading even one of the articles in this book... These writings are lucid and compelling, completely accessible to every reader—lawyer or not, academic or not, religious or not. Doug has the gift for taking complex ideas and making them elegantly simple but never simplistic.

—Kim Colby, Senior Legal Counsel, Center for Law & Religious Freedom

Religious Liberty, Volume 1: Overviews and History

• Author: Douglas Laycock
• Series: Religious Liberty
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Publication Date: 2010
• Pages: 888

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

This first volume gives the big picture of religious liberty in the United States, fitting a vast range of disparate disputes into a coherent pattern—from public school prayers to private school vouchers to regulation of churches and believers. Laycock’s clear overviews provide the broad, historical, helpful context often lacking in today’s press.

The church-state field is blessed with serious scholars, persuasive advocates, dynamic teachers, astute political strategists, and public commentators. Douglas Laycock is one of a very few who are all of these. I welcome this multivolume collection of his always insightful and lucid writings—from scholarly law review articles to USA Today op-ed pieces. Even those who may disagree with Laycock’s interpretation and application of the First Amendment’s religion clauses will be hard pressed to gainsay these sentiments.

—J. Brent Walker, Executive Director, Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty

Religious Liberty, Volume 2: The Free Exercise Clause

• Author: Douglas Laycock
• Series: Religious Liberty
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Publication Date: 2011
• Pages: 871

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

This second volume, The Free Exercise Clause, includes articles, amicus briefs, and court documents relating to regulatory exemptions under the Constitution, the right to church autonomy, and the rights of non-mainstream religions. Dealing with religious schools and colleges, sexual abuse cases, the rights of Hare Krishnas and Scientologists, the landmark decision Employment Division v. Smith, and more, this will be a valuable reference for churches, schools, and other religious organizations as they exercise their constitutionally protected freedom.

A must for academic and law-school libraries... A treasure trove of information for those who teach or practice church-state law.

—Voice of Reason

Religious Liberty, Volume 3: Religious Freedom Restoration Acts, Same-Sex Marriage Legislation, and the Culture Wars

• Author: Douglas Laycock
• Series: Religious Liberty
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Publication Date: 2018
• Pages: 952

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

This third volume presents a documentary history of efforts to enact and implement state and federal Religious Freedom Restoration Acts, to include religious-liberty protections in same-sex marriage legislation, and to protect the rights of both sides in the culture wars. It contains articles in scholarly journals, op-eds for popular audiences, and oral and written arguments.

Religious Liberty, Volume 4: Federal Legislation after the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, with More on the Culture Wars

• Author: Douglas Laycock
• Series: Religious Liberty
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Publication Date: 2018
• Pages: 864

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

This fourth volume presents a documentary history of the effort to replace the Religious Freedom Restoration Act with the Religious Liberty Protection Act, an effort that failed but led to narrower legislation protecting churches from hostile zoning and protecting the religious rights of prisoners. Documenting culture-war battles over religious liberty and abortion, contraception, and same-sex marriage, this volume includes journal articles, testimony to Congress, shorter popular writings, and letters to such political figures as Congressman Bobby Scott and President Barack Obama.

Religious Liberty, Volume 5: The Free Speech and Establishment Clauses

• Author: Douglas Laycock
• Series: Religious Liberty
• Publisher: Eerdmans
• Publication Date: 2018
• Pages: 1104

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7

In this final volume Laycock documents the use of the Constitution’s Free Speech Clause and Establishment Clause in legal briefs, scholarly and popular articles, House testimonies, and written debates. These two clauses have been vitally important in religious-liberty cases concerning religious speech in schools, politics, and the workplace, government funding of religious schools and social services, and the meaning of separation of church and state.

About Douglas Laycock

Douglas Laycock is Robert E. Scott Distinguished Professor of Law and professor of religious studies at the University of Virginia. In addition to his work as a lawyer, he has written for the New York Times, the Washington Post, and numerous other publications.