Religion and the State in American Law

Boris Bittker (1916-2005) was a professor at the Yale Law School for over five decades. The leading tax scholar of his era, he helped pioneer the study of federal tax law as a serious academic discipline. Updated versions of his casebooks, including the groundbreaking Estate and Gift Taxation (1951), are still in use today. Scott C. Idleman is Professor of Law at Marquette University Law School. He has written articles on constitutional law, law and religion, federal courts, and military law in the nation's top journals, including the Cornell Law Review, the Virginia Law Review, and the University of Pennsylvania Law Review. Frank S. Ravitch is Professor of Law and Walter H. Stowers Chair in Law and Religion at Michigan State University College of Law. He is the author of numerous peer-reviewed articles on law and religion, civil rights, and constitutional law, and frequently serves as an expert in the media on the same topics. His most recent book is Marketing Creation: The Law and Intelligent Design (2011).

• 1. Religion and the constitution: history, text, and context; 2. Church and state in the nineteenth century; 3. Religious influences and expressions in law and government; 4. The establishment clause; 5. The free exercise clause; 6. The religious rest, equal protection, and free speech clauses; 7. The definition of religion; 8. Church property disputes and church schisms; 9. Contracts; 10. Taxation; 11. Employment; 12. Land use; 13. Torts; 14. Criminal law and process; 15. Family law; 16. Public education; 17. Religious symbolism on public property; 18. Special contexts: prisons and the military; Appendices.