Jewish Ideas Daily has been succeeded and re-launched as Mosaic. Read more...

Free Exercise Clause


Why America Has No Chief Rabbi Why America Has No Chief Rabbi
Wednesday, January 23, 2013 by Jonathan D. Sarna | Jewish Ideas Daily » Daily Features

Just as America introduced free-market capitalism into the economy, so it created a free market in religion.
Editors' Picks
Constitutional Discrimination Peter Berger, American Interest. New York City’s human rights commission has charged ultra-Orthodox businesses with discrimination for demanding female modesty—that is, for exercising a constitutional right.
Should Religion Be Commercialized? Michael A. Helfand, First Things. Recent conflicts between law and religion in America have centered on the intersection of commerce and religion.  But commercialization of religion is not the problem—it's the solution.
Losing Faith In America Peter Schotten, Jewish Ideas and Ideals. "Religion, society’s bedrock, is slowly but surely being eroded by the popular culture the Founders hoped it would support."
The Inscrutable Americans Peter Berger, American Interest. America is the West’s most religious country—but has the strictest separation between church and state.  No wonder foreigners are puzzled by the vagaries of American religion.
Defining Religious Liberty Down Ross Douthat, New York Times. "If you want to fine Catholic hospitals for following Catholic teaching, or prevent Jewish parents from circumcising their sons, or ban Chick-fil-A in Boston, then don’t tell religious people that you respect our freedoms."