March / April 1998

The Gift of Compromise

"Our church is suffering great persecution. Government officials came to the village and made a list of all the Christians' names. They want us to stop meeting because we are a so-called illegal meeting. When there is a clash between the government and the church, we must obey God because the church is governed by Him. We continue to meet in secret."-Heilongjiang, a Christian in China

"Screw the Buddhists and Kill the Muslims! And You Can Put That in the Minutes."

How a Little Compromise Language Defused What Could Have Been a Moral Clash of Gargantuan Importance (and Still Might Be)

Should Public Libraries Fear Religious Literature?

On the Unconstitutionality of Religious Displays And Open Prayer in America's Courtrooms

A Law Professor Argues That Church-State Jurisprudence Is So Confused Because We Have Been Looking for Answers Where They Can't Be Found

Scholars have sometimes argued that historical evidence does not support the position that the framers of the Fourteenth Amendment intended to incorporate into the religion clauses and thus make them applicable to the states. In addition, some scholars have pointed out that the "incorporation" of the Establishment Clause, because of its federalist character, is conceptually awkward. The foregoing discussion suggests that these observations, although correct as far as they go, understate both the difficulties and the significance of the "incorporation" of the religion clauses.

Fourth World Congress on Religious Liberty