Title: The Americanization of religious minorities : confronting the constitutional order /
Authors: Mazur, Eric Michael.
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press,
Year: 1999
Subjects: Religious minorities United States.; Religion and law United States; Freedom of religion United States; Church and state United States
Abstract: What happens when a minority religious group's beliefs run counter to the laws and principles of the American constitution? How do Americans reconcile the conflicting demands of church and state? In The Americanization of Religious Minorities, Eric Michael Mazur recounts the experiences of Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, and Native Americans as cases in which minority religious groups seek to practice their faith in a constitutional order that recognizes a higher authority different from, and sometimes incompatible with, their own. Mazur identifies three basic strategies these minority religious groups can follow: establishing a separate peace accommodating their theology to political realities and engaging in sustained conflict. He shows that, in order to practice its faith without hindrance from the law, a member of a religious minority must somehow buy into the principles and values of America's constitutional government.^
Contents: American religions and the authority of law -- Constitutional congruence -- Constitutional conversion -- Constitutionl conflict -- Constitutional questions.