Religion and the Law
Professor Linder
Fall Semester 2023


SESSION 1 (Tuesday, Oct. 3)

Law and Religion from 1620 to 1880

READ: RELIGION AND LAW IN AMERICA: A HISTORY (Links to an external site.)

The Trial of Anne Hutchinson (1637)(video lecture):

https://umsystem.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=041c63bc-06fe-4fb3-a190-ad9e010784fc (Links to an external site.)

The Trial of Mary Dyer (1659-60)(for interest) (Links to an external site.)

Salem Witchcraft Trials (1692) (for interest) (Links to an external site.)

History behind the First Amendment’s Religion Clauses

Marsh v Chambers (1983) (Links to an external site.)

The Joseph Smith Murder Trial (1845)(for interest) (Links to an external site.)

The Supreme Court’s First Free Exercise Decision

Reynolds v United States (1878) (Links to an external site.)

 

SESSION 2 (Tuesday, Oct. 10)

Law and Religion from 1880 to 1945

The Rise of Fundamentalism (Links to an external site.)

READ: THE EVOLUTION/CREATIONISM CONTROVERSY (Links to an external site.)

The Scopes Monkey Trial  (Links to an external site.)(1925)(video lecture):

https://umsystem.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=133963fa-6c0a-46f0-a0eb-ad9e01113b8d (Links to an external site.)

Epperson v Arkansas (1968) (Links to an external site.)

Edwards v Aguillard (1987)
 (Links to an external site.)

The Jehovah’s Witnesses Flag Salute Cases: The Compelled Speech Doctrine

West Virginia v Barnette (1943) (Links to an external site.) (video lecture):

https://umsystem.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=b708f75a-6df8-43f8-8f4a-ad9e01078532 (Links to an external site.)

Wooley v Maynard (1977)

303 Creative LLC v Elenis (2023)


SESSION 3 (Tuesday, Oct. 17)

Prayer, Religious Instruction, and the Public Schools

READ: INTRODUCTION TO THE ESTABLISHMENT CLAUSE (Links to an external site.)

McCollum v Board of Education (1948) (Links to an external site.)

Engel v Vitale (1962) (Links to an external site.)

Lee v Weisman (1992) (Links to an external site.)

watch Lee v Weisman video (Duke Law):

https://umsystem.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=55cab844-f8de-4be4-8bb5-adba00f57614 (Links to an external site.)

Santa Fe Indep. School District v Doe (2000)

Kennedv v Bremerton School District (2022)

(Links to an external site.)

Aid to Religious Schools (Vouchers & Scholarships)

Zelmen v Simmons-Harris (2002) (Links to an external site.)

Locke v Davey (2004) (Links to an external site.)

watch Locke v Davey video (Duke Law):

https://umsystem.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=1197fefa-3b30-45b1-a94a-adbd0163cab4

Carson v Makin (2022)


(Links to an external site.)

Disfavoring Student Religious Expression:

Widmar v Vincent (1981) (Links to an external site.)

 

SESSION 4: (Tuesday, Oct. 24)

Excessive Entanglement

READ: EVALUATING RELIGIOUSLY-BASED OR MOVITATED LAWS (Links to an external site.)

Larkin v Grendel's Den (1984) (Links to an external site.)

Oregon v Rajneeshpuram (1984) (Links to an external site.)

Presbyterian Church v Hull Church (1969)
 (Links to an external site.)

Free Exercise: Rise of the Compelling State Interest Test

READ: THE RISE OF THE COMPELLING STATE INTEREST TEST (Links to an external site.)

U.S. v Ballard (1944) (Links to an external site.)

Sherbert v Verner (1963) (Links to an external site.)

Yoder v Wisconsin (1972) (Links to an external site.) (video lecture):

https://umsystem.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=abce9aaf-3d8e-43f9-befe-ad9e01113be0 (Links to an external site.)

Frank v Alaska (1979) (Links to an external site.)

Jensen v Quaring (1985) (Links to an external site.)

 

SESSION 5: (Oct. 31)

The Limits of First Amendment Protection: Finding Secular Purposes and Narrowing Free Exercise Protection

McGowan v Maryland (1961) (Links to an external site.)

Clayton v Place (1989) (Links to an external site.)

Narrowing of Free Exercise Protection

READ: FREE EXERCISE: NARROWING OF PROTECTION (Links to an external site.)

Employment Division of Oregon v Smith (1990) (Links to an external site.)

 

SESSION 6: (Nov. 7)

Religious Symbols in the Public Sphere

READ: RELIGIOUS SYMBOLS IN PUBLIC PLACES (Links to an external site.)

Lynch v Donnelly (1984) (Links to an external site.)

watch Lynch v Donnelly video (Duke Law):

https://umsystem.hosted.panopto.com/Panopto/Pages/Viewer.aspx?id=ed635d0b-04ef-4502-81c7-adbd016ecfde (Links to an external site.)

County of Allegheny v ACLU (1989) (Links to an external site.)

Van Orden v Perry (2005) (Links to an external site.)

American Legion v American Humanist Ass’n (2019) (Links to an external site.)

The “Government Speech” Doctrine:

Pleasant Grove City v Summum (2009) (Links to an external site.)

 

SESSION 7 (Nov. 14)

Congress and the Courts: The Trend towards Greater Free Exercise Protection

READ: FREE EXERCISE: THE POST-SMITH CASES (Links to an external site.)

Constitutional Protection for Free Exercise (“Targeting” Doctrine):

Church of Lukumi Babalu Aye v. Hialeah (1993) (Links to an external site.)

Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia v Comer (2017) (Links to an external site.)

Masterpiece Cakeshop v Colorado (2018) (Links to an external site.)

Tandon v Newsom (2021) (Links to an external site.)

Fulton v Philadelphia (2021)
 (Links to an external site.)

Statutory Protection for Free Exercise (RFRA (1993) and RLUIPA (2000)):

City of Boerne v Flores (1997) (Links to an external site.)

Burwell v Hobby Lobby (2014) (Links to an external site.)

Holt v Hobbs (2015)

Religious Accomodation Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act
Groff v DeJoy (2023)