Law & Religion
Fall 2022
LAWWA 602-51
Law & Religion (2 hours) (online) (Thursday 8 PM
- 9:50 PM)
This course explores the First Amendment’s Establishment and
Free Exercise Clauses. The course will examine Supreme Court
opinions interpreting the Religion Clauses from early cases
up to the present. This examination will make clear the
significant changes that have occurred in the Court’s
approach to the Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses and
the relationship between the two clauses. Some of the topics
to be studied include public school prayer, government
funding of religious education, religious symbols on
government property, and the right of religious believers to
be exempt from the need to comply with laws that burden
their religious beliefs and practices. This course counts
towards the upper-level writing requirement. The reading
material for the course has been prepared by the instructor
and will be available online. (This course can be counted
towards the Public Interest Practice concentration.)
Reading Materials:
The reading materials are available as a series of PDF
documents linked below. The cases have been heavily edited
and most omissions are not marked with ellipses. Footnotes
in the opinions do not retain their original numbering
except where noted.
Chapter
I: Establishment Clause; The Early Cases
Chapter
II: The Free Exercise Clause: 1879-1990
Chapter III:
Religion in the Public Schools
Chapter IV:
School and Legislative Prayer
Chapter V:
Religious Displays on Public Property
Chapter VI:
Establishment Clause: Government Financing of Religious
Education
Chapter
VII: The Free Exercise Clause After Employment Division v.
Smith
Chapter VIII:
Statutory Protection of Religious Liberty
Questions and Answers About Fourth Writing Assignment
(6 questions and answers - last updated 5:00 p.m. on Dec.
12)
The syllabus contains all of the reading assignments for
the semester, information about grading, attendance, class
participation and other matters required by law school
policies and ABA requirements.
Classroom Materials:
All Classroom Materials prepared for use in class in connection with a reading assignment will be posted on the course website shortly before each class and remain available throughout the semester.