Cambridge University Press God vs. the Gavel: The Perils of Extreme Religious Liberty

Clergy sex abuse, polygamy, children dying from faith healing, companies that refuse to do business with same-sex couples, and residential neighborhoods forced to host homeless shelters - what do all of these have in common? They are all examples of religious believers harming others and demanding religious liberty regardless of the harm. This book unmasks those responsible, explains how this new set of rights is not derived from the First Amendment and argues for a return to common-sense religious liberty. In straightforward, readable prose, God vs. the Gavel: The Perils of Extreme Religious Liberty sets the record straight about the United States' move toward extreme religious liberty. More than half of this thoroughly revised second edition is new content, featuring a new introduction and epilogue and contemporary stories. All Americans need to read this book, before they or their friends and family are harmed by religious believers exercising their newfound rights. Review 'In this highly readable and timely book, Marci A. Hamilton sheds much needed light on the ways in which religious groups and institutions - often aided and abetted by 'dealmaker' politicians - enjoy special treatment under the law, often to the detriment of others and the broader society. Highlighting the key distinction between religious belief and behavior, Hamilton argues that while freedom of religious belief deserves absolute constitutional protection, actions undertaken in the name of religion must be limited when they cause harm. This deceptively simple message, illuminated by Hamilton's impressive scholarship, deserves the attention not only of scholars, lawmakers, and religious practitioners, but also of average citizens whose everyday lives are - often unwittingly - impacted by the issues she raises.' Hella Winston, journalist and author of Unchosen: The Hidden Lives of Hasidic Rebels 'No one in the public square has articulated more presciently than Professor Marci Hamilton the dangers of socially harmful religious exemptions; and no book argues the case for ordered religious liberty more vividly than God vs. the Gavel. This updated edition of Hamilton's text arrives at a watershed moment in our country's church-state conversation, when even for-profit corporations are invoking the First Amendment's protections to avoid complying with neutral, generally applicable laws. If the special religious interests win this fight, the recent progress of faith-based institutions toward transparency and accountability in the area of child protection will be undone. For the sake of children, of believers, and of the general American public, the Supreme Court must get this right.' Anne Barrett Doyle, Co-Director, BishopAccountability.org 'Marci A. Hamilton has been a prophet ahead of her time on the harms posed by the state and federal Religious Freedom Restoration acts. She has also been more consistent and comprehensive in her position than many others. In lucid, strong prose, she provides an understanding of what religious freedom has meant historically and of the need for 'ordered liberty' today.' Rita Swan, Founder and President, CHILD (Children's Health Is a Legal Duty) 'This seminal work by Marci A. Hamilton is provocative, enlightening, and highly important. God vs. the Gavel serves as a clarion call against the radical religious fervor that, while enjoying protection, perpetrates abuse on the most vulnerable in society and through a ruinous weakening of separation of church and state threatens the foundations of democracy - in short, of society itself. Only Hamilton could have pierced the high-holy sanctimonious shield so articulately and scholarly as this.' Andrea Moore-Emmett, author of God's Brothel 'For two decades, Marci Hamilton has been battling theocrats seeking to impose their religious dogma under the guise of religious liberty. Hamilton knows there can be no true religious liberty, without the freedom to dissent