Masters of Illusion: The Supreme Court and the Religion Clauses

Editorial Reviews. Review. “An outstanding contribution to the scholarly debates on the Masters of Illusion: The Supreme Court and the Religion Clauses - Kindle edition by Frank S. Ravitch. Download it once and read it on your Kindle.
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However, the book explicitly withdraws from secular fundamentalism and invites its readers to acknowledge instances in which some state intervention in religious issues is required for the sake of liberty of religious beliefs and in order to realize equality among various religious communities pp. A straightforward state intervention in matters of state-religion would stand against the intent of the US constitution and its founders p. Context is crucial, and under some circumstances it is advisable for the government to intervene institutionally for maintaining equality among various communities and liberty for individuals with varied religious preferences p.

One more step

Thus, there is a difference between an unjust government intervention for promoting prayer in public schools, on the one hand, and justly intervening for enabling minorities to enjoy the same access to public services. Generally, as an alternative to abstract principles, this book is about contextual pragmatism, and it calls for judicial intervention for resolving specific conflicts based on a dynamic court policy that can be practically applied for resolving very concrete disputes pp.

Accordingly, the facilitation test negates any solicitation of one specific religion or any attempt to subdue one specific religion. Yet, Ravitch refers to a policy of accommodation, based on contextual contingencies and rejects complete separation of the government from religion if such an institutional separation may lead to lack of protection of religious pluralism in the US. Thus, Ravitch neglects social forces, like NGOs, political groups, religious institutions, and communal interactions, which may contribute to resolution of religious conflicts with no meaningful adjudication and with no judicial intervention.

He negates formalism, on the one hand, but presents a hyper-legalistic court-centered thesis, on the other hand, presuming that adjudication should be a dominant vehicle for resolving religious disputes, while in fact most of those conflicts are either resolved at the social level or are rarely litigated in courts. The Federal system that defers many religious issues to the communal level bounds any research on religion and law to be less court-centered and more oriented to look into non-litigious ways that may resolve issues of politics and religion.

A Crack In The Wall: Be Careful What you Wish For: Playing the Proof Game: Davey and the Lose-lose Scenario: Struggling With Text And Context: Privatization and Public Employee Pension Rights: Administration 41 with W. Pena , Dickinson Law Review Balancing Fundamental Disability Policies: Complimentary or Competing Freedoms: Rights and the Religion Clauses , 3 Duke J.

MAGICAL SHADOWS

Intelligent Design in Public Universities: Establishment of Religion or Academic Freedom? Have also written a number of short entries for a variety of legal encyclopedias, including: Review of Holy Writ: Review of Piety, Politics, and Pluralism: Religion, the Courts, and the Election Mary C.

Engagement and Impact

Press , 18 International J. A Nonfoundationalist Analysis of Richard A. Brief Amicus Curiae in support of Pet. Berg's The State and Religion in a Nutshell, 2d. Judicial Independence and the American Constitution.

Masters of Illusion | The Supreme Court and the Religion Clauses | Books - NYU Press | NYU Press

Precedent in the United States Supreme Court. The Culturalization of Human Rights Law. Religious Rhetoric and American Politics. An Introduction to African Legal Philosophy. The Legal Order of the European Union. Controversies in American Federalism and Public Policy. Empirical Gap in Jurisprudence. The Adversary First Amendment. Philosophy of Human Rights.

Frank S. Ravitch

New England Law Review: Volume 48, Number 3 - Spring New England Law Review. The Rule of Recognition and the U. Some Suggestions for Its Development and Application. The State and Religion in a Nutshell. New Challenges to Constitutional Adjudication in Europe. The Politics of the Sacred in America. Religion and the State in American Law. How to write a great review. The review must be at least 50 characters long. The title should be at least 4 characters long.


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