Suchergebnisse

A review essay on a classic text, Dean M. Kelley's Why Conservative Churches Are Growing: A Study in the Sociology of Religion (New York: Harper & Row, 1972). Kelley, an ordained Methodist minister, maintained that conservative churches enjoyed a new wave of popularity in the mid-1960s in response to the growing chaos of the decade, particularly because they seemed better able to answer "existential questions of meaning" than did mainstream or more liberal churches. He argued that conservative churches, because they were stricter & demanded more from their members, acquired greater "social strength." Criticisms of Kelley's views & his response to these are reviewed. K. Hyatt Stewart

Flowers reviews The American Church Experience: A Concise History by Thomas A. Askew and Richard V. Pierard.

Flowers reviews God and Ronald Reagan: A Spiritual Life by Paul Kengor and Hand of Providence: The Strong and Quiet Faith of Ronald Reagan by Mary Beth Brown.

Flowers reviews The Yoder Case: Religious Freedom, Education, and Parental Rights by Shawn Francis Peters.

'Family, Freedom, and Faith: Building Community Today' by Paula M. Cooey is reviewed.

Decisions of the United States Supreme Court in 1963 and 1972 expanded the scope of the free exercise clause of the First Amendment beyond any previous inter pretation of that clause in American judicial history. Although it is still understood that government may prohibit religiously motivated behavior which represents harm to individuals or to the public welfare, civil authorities now may intervene only when the religious activity threatens a compelling state interest. The possibilities of religious activity are abundant, and government intervention is limited to only the gravest offenses of the public order. This article examines some of the areas of health, broadly defined, in which religious attitudes have conflicted with state interests: the handling of poisonous snakes and drinking of poison in religious worship, the use of prohibited drugs in worship, compulsory blood transfusions for those who have theological objections to them, and the application of public health laws to those whose theology rejects medicine altogether. In the light of these cases, as much as the American constitutional system exalts religious liberty, it can never be unfettered. But, even in this area, it is imperative that our governmental units make religious liberty the rule and its curtailment the exception.

Supreme Court decisions of 1963 (Sherbert v. Verner) & 1972 (Wisconsin v. Yoder) expanded the scope of the free exercise clause of the First Amendment further than ever before in US judicial history. Civil authorities may now intervene in religious activities only when compelling state interests are threatened. Examined are areas of health in which religious attitudes have conflicted with state interests. Included are the handling of poisonous snakes & drinking of poison in religious worship, the use of prohibited drugs in worship, compulsory blood transfusions for those who object to them on theological grounds, & the application of public health laws where medicine is rejected by theology. These instances suggest that religious liberty in the US can never be unfettered, even though it is exalted. Still, governmental intervention in religious practices must be exceptional & not customary. Modified HA.