Book Description
This book explores the legal bias in the United States against Paganism and other non-Christian religions. Despite being one of the most religiously diverse countries in the world, the U.S. legal system developed when the population was predominantly Christian. Built into the law is the tacit assumption that all religions and religious practices resemble Christianity. Using the Pagans as a case study, Barner-Barry shows how their experiences demonstrate that both the law affecting nondominant religions and the judiciary that interprets this law are significantly biased in favor of the dominant religion, Christianity. This creates legal problems, as well as problems of intolerance, for religions with significantly different practices. Special attention is given to a series of Supreme Court decisions interpreting the Freedom of Religion Clause in terms of neutrality and interpreting the Establishment Clause loosely and its impact on nondominant religions in the US.
About the Author
Carol Barner-Barry is Professor of Political Science at the University of Maryland, Baltimore.
Contemporary Paganism: Minority Religions in a Majoritarian America FROM THE PUBLISHER
This is a case study of the experiences of adherents to a minority religion in the contemporary United States. It shows the consequences of a political and legal system that is dominated by Christians and strongly favors the Christian majority. Followers of minority religions, if they disclose their religious affiliation, are frequently faced with discrimination and harassment. Neither the Free Exercise Clause nor the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, as interpreted by the Supreme Court, afford anything but very limited recourse to persons who are practicing religions other than Christianity and, usually, Judaism. The farther a religion departs from the usual practices and beliefs of these two religious traditions, the more likely they are to encounter legal, political and social barriers to the practice of their religions.
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