KCITY-DEV-RELIGION_AND_LAW
Professor Linder Fall Semester 2026
Exploring Religion & the Law
SESSION 1 (Tuesday, Sept. 22)
Introduction: Religion in America
Today; Religion, Politics, and the Court
Read: Alito, Roberts, and the Court's Role in Making America Christian
Read: Louisiana Enacts Law Requiring Posting of 10 Commandments in Schools
Read: Oklahoma Requires the Study of the Bible in Schools
Read: Stone v Graham (US, 1980)
Law and Religion from 1620 to 1880
READ: RELIGION AND LAW IN AMERICA: A HISTORY
The Trial of Anne Hutchinson (1637)(video lecture):
History behind the First Amendment’s Religion Clauses
The Supreme Court’s First Free Exercise Decision
Reynolds v United States (1878)
SESSION 2 (Tuesday, Sept. 29)
Law and Religion from 1880 to 1945
READ: THE EVOLUTION/CREATIONISM CONTROVERSY
The Scopes Monkey Trial (1925)(video lecture):
The Jehovah’s Witnesses Flag Salute Cases: The Compelled Speech Doctrine
West Virginia v Barnette (1943) (video lecture):
303 Creative LLC v Elenis (2023)
SESSION 3 (Tuesday, Oct. 6)
Prayer, Religious Instruction, and the Public Schools
READ: INTRODUCTION
TO THE ESTABLISHMENT CLAUSE
Religious Neutrality
Catholic Charities v Wisconsin Labor and Industry Review Comm'n (2025)
McCollum v Board of Education (1948)
watch Lee v Weisman video (Duke Law):
Santa Fe
Indep. School District v Doe (2000)
Kennedv v Bremerton School District (2022)
Aid to Religious Schools (Vouchers & Scholarships)
Zelmen v Simmons-Harris (2002)
watch Locke v Davey video (Duke Law):
Disfavoring Student Religious Expression:
SESSION 4: (Tuesday, Oct. 20)
Excessive Entanglement
READ: EVALUATING RELIGIOUSLY-BASED OR MOVITATED LAWS
Presbyterian
Church v Hull Church (1969)
Free Exercise: Rise of the Compelling
State Interest Test
READ: THE RISE OF THE COMPELLING STATE INTEREST TEST
Yoder v Wisconsin (1972) (video lecture):
SESSION 5: (Oct. 27)
Free Exercise: Rise of the Compelling
State Interest Test
READ: THE RISE OF THE COMPELLING STATE INTEREST TEST
Yoder v Wisconsin (1972) (video lecture):
Narrowing of Free Exercise Protection
READ: FREE EXERCISE: NARROWING OF PROTECTION
Employment Division of Oregon v Smith (1990)
The Limits of First Amendment Protection: Finding Secular Purposes and Narrowing Free Exercise Protection
Narrowing of Free
Exercise Protection
READ: FREE
EXERCISE: NARROWING OF PROTECTION
Employment Division of Oregon v Smith (1990)
SESSION 6: (Nov. 3)
Religious Symbols in the Public Sphere
READ: RELIGIOUS SYMBOLS IN PUBLIC PLACES
watch Lynch v Donnelly video (Duke Law):
County of Allegheny v ACLU (1989)
American Legion v American Humanist Ass’n (2019)
The “Government Speech” Doctrine:
Pleasant Grove City v Summum (2009)
READ: FREE EXERCISE: THE POST-SMITH CASES
Constitutional Protection for Free Exercise (“Targeting” Doctrine):
Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye v. Hialeah (1993)
SESSION 7 (Nov. 10)
Congress and the Courts: The Trend
towards Greater Free Exercise Protection
Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia v Comer (2017)
Masterpiece Cakeshop v Colorado (2018)
Statutory Protection for Free Exercise (RFRA (1993) and RLUIPA (2000)):
City of Boerne v Flores (1997)
Holt v Hobbs
(2015)
Religious
Accomodation Under Title VII of the Civil Rights
Act
Groff v DeJoy
(2023)