Farewell to Christendom

"Thomas J. Curry argues that our understanding of the First Amendment has reached a point of deep crisis. Historical scholarship dealing with the background of the amendment is at an impasse, and judicial interpretation is in a state of disarray. Curry traces much of the current difficulty to the largely unexamined assumption on the part of judges and scholars that the amendment created a right - the right to free exercise of religion - and that the courts are the guardians of that right. Rather, he argues, the amendment is a limitation on government's ability to impinge on the religious liberty that citizens already possess by natural right." "Farewell to Christendom traces the developments behind Americans' determination to deprive their new government of power in the sphere of religion, and evaluates Supreme Court decisions in the light of that determination."--Jacket.