C. Church and State

5418. Blau, Joseph L., ed. Cornerstones of religious freedom in America. Boston, Beacon Press, 1949. 250 p. (Beacon Press studies in freedom and power) 49–10649 BR516.B55

"List of sources": p. 246–247.

A compilation of notable documents illustrating the history of American religious liberty. The editor writes a general introduction and an explanatory headnote for each of the themes under which he has arranged the extracts from writings and speeches. The headings are: "Colonial Stirrings" (Roger Williams and William Penn); "Building the Wall of Separation" (Jefferson and Madison); "The Affirmation of Civil Rights for Religious Minorities" (including a speech on the Maryland "Jew Bill," 1819); "Resistance to Enforced Sabbath Observance" (1830); "On Keeping Religion Out of Politics" (Zelotes Fuller, The Tree of Liberty, 1830); "Resistance to Imposed Religious Forms" (from A Report on Appointing Chaplains to the Legislatureof New York, 1832); "On Keeping Religion Out of Public Schools" (Horace Mann, 1848); "On Keeping God Out of the Constitution" (1873 and 1876); and "The Fight against Released Time" (Justice Felix Frankfurter’s concurring opinion in a case regarding religious education during school hours, 1948).

5419. Greene, Evarts B. Religion and the state; the making and testing of an American tradition. New York, New York University Press, 1941. 172 p. (Anson G. Phelps lectureship on early American history. New York University. Stokes Foundation) 42–1794 BR516.G67

Six lectures by a distinguished historian, outlining concisely, informally, and interestingly the main themes of church-state relationships in America. Professor Greene begins with the European antecedents, in Protestant and Catholic countries alike, of an established church in which ecclesiastical and temporal control were closely associated. Next he examines the transplantation of these ideas to New Spain, New France, New Netherland, Anglican Virginia, and Puritan New England. His third lecture introduces the liberalizing factors in the British colonies—the Rhode Island "livelie experiment" in religious freedom, the policy of Lord Baltimore and other proprietary governors of toleration for rent-paying tenants, and William Penn’s "first fundamentall" of freedom of faith and worship. The Act of Toleration (1688), the Great Awakening, the penetration of 18th-century rationalism, all aided dissent, till on the eve of the Revolution church establishment was everywhere losing ground. The religious history of the Revolutionary and Federal eras is discussed in a chapter called "Separation." Chapter V, "After Separation," describes the situation after the last disestablishment act, passed by Massachusetts in 1833, and the persisting church-state relations in exemptions from taxation, in the law of church property, and in politics. The last chapter turns to the difficult question of education, in which more than in any other department the American tradition of disestablishment is tested. (See also nos. 5491 and 5494.) The valuable "Bibliographical Notes" (p. 147–162) are arranged by chapters.

5420. Stokes, Anson Phelps. Church and state in the United States. New York, Harper, 1950. 3 v. illus. 50–7978 BR516.S85

"Critical and classified selected bibliography": v. 3, p. 769–836.

The late author of this classic and encyclopedic work, a noted Episcopalian cleric and educator, published it after retiring as canon of Washington Cathedral. Professor Gabriel of Yale University, of which Dr. Stokes had been Secretary for over 20 years, speaks in his introductory note of the author as "guided by the historian’s ideal of objectivity and the desire to uncover all pertinent material." The subtitle shows the vast terrain covered in the three large volumes: "A Historical Survey, Source Book, and Interpretation of Documents and Events Showing the Growth of Religious Freedom under the Friendly Constitutional Separation of Church and State, and the Resulting Influence of Religion in All Major Phases of National Development; also a Study of the Status of Churches Including Synagogues and Other Religious Groups under Federal and State Constitutions, Statutes, and Judicial Decisions; Authoritative Opinions of Courts, Church Bodies, Statesmen, Religious Leaders, and Publicists on Matters at Issue; and a Discussion of Contemporary Problems of Adjustment." Adjectives used by reviewers pay tribute to the monumental character of the work: "spacious, erudite, and magnanimous," "unique," "definitive." Those pressed for time may limit themselves to Part 8, a "Summary and Interpretation" (v. 3, p. 629–726) of the preceding seven. Part 9 includes, in addition to the monumental bibliography, a table of dates and six documentary appendixes, the last of which is a compilation of the "Provisions in State Constitutions Regarding Religious Freedom."

5421. Torpey, William G. Judicial doctrines of religious rights in America. Chapel Hill, University of North Carolina Press, 1948. 376 p. 48–8404 Law

Bibliography: p. [333]–371.

A legal study, beginning with an historical analysis of relations of government to religion, and then examining many aspects of religious freedom as interpreted, especially by the State courts. Under the first heading, "Delegated and Police Powers as Limitations upon Religious Freedom," there are discussed such matters as pacifism and conscientious objectors, postal laws prohibiting use of mails to defraud, refusals to salute the flag, Sunday laws, laws against fortunetelling. In many of these cases, which seem to run to oddities, the courts have ruled that religious liberty was not violated. Religious organizations are next considered with respect to their legal status, the finality of their decisions, the right of religious assembly, and the exemption of church property from taxation. Then the author turns to the religious rights of the individual in marriage and divorce, in conflicts over child control, in education, in court trials, and in bequests for religious purposes. Many of these cases likewise turn on what seem eccentricities of faith and conduct. The text is in easy narrative style, with footnote references to the many cases cited (tabulated inthe bibliography), and each chapter ends with a simple and useful summary.

5422. Zollmann, Carl F. G. American church law. St. Paul, West Pub. Co., 1933. xv, 675 p. 33–4421 Law

A standard handbook of church law, covering comprehensively statutes in force of the Federal Government and the States relating to religious matters. Published first in 1917 with the title, American Civil Church Law, as volume 77 of the Columbia University Studies in history, economics and public law, it has been revised and expanded to encompass new material. It begins with a "Table of Constitutional Provisions Cited" (U. S., Alabama-Wyoming), and ends with a 40-page table of nearly 2500 cases. Each chapter opens with a list of the numbered sections into which it is divided. The sections state the legal issue under consideration: e.g., Ch. 1, Sec. 29, "The Legal Effect of Antenuptial Promises in Mixed Marriages." The first two chapters on religious liberty and religious education include a number of the more unusual claims made on religious grounds, and upheld or rejected by the courts. Most of the laws, however, relate to matters of regular procedure or administration: the forms, natures, and powers of corporations, church constitutions, implied trusts, schisms, church decisions, and such material matters as tax exemption, the rights of clergymen and church officers, the acquisition, protection, and liability of church property, pew rights, and cemeteries.