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.

Part I. Religious Liberty Is Not a License to Harm Others: 1. The problem; 2. Children; 3. Marriage; 4. Religious land use and residential neighborhoods; 5. Schools; 6. The prisons and the military; 7. The right to discriminate; Part II. The History and Doctrine behind Common-Sense Religious Liberty: 8. Ordered liberty: religious liberty and the Supreme Court; 9. The decline of church autonomy and the rise of the no-harm rule; 10. The path to the public good.