A book, Philip Hamburger. Separation of Church and State. Cambridge,
Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2002. 492 pages. Notes, index. $45.00
(cloth), has been offered by some in the newsgroups as proof church
state separation is a myth.
What follows are two different points of view about this book
(I have the book but haven't read it yet. I got it at Christmas. along
with about 20 other books)
The first view is offered by Prof Marci Hamilton
MARCI A. HAMILTON
[hamilton02@aol.com]
Biography
(from http://writ.news.findlaw.com/hamilton/:)
Professor Marci A. Hamilton holds the Paul R. Verkuil Chair in Public
Law at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Yeshiva University,
where she is the founding Director of the Intellectual Property Law
Program. She has been a visiting scholar at Princeton Theological
Seminary, the Center of Theological Inquiry, and Emory University
School of Law.
Professor Hamilton is an internationally recognized expert on
constitutional and copyright law. She is frequently asked to advise
Congress and state legislatures on the constitutionality of pending
legislation and to consult in cases before the United States Supreme
Court. She represented the City of Boerne, Texas in a successful
challenge to the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, a case that
resulted in the Court's landmark decision in Boerne v. Flores, 507
U.S. 521 (1997).
Professor Hamilton clerked for Associate Justice Sandra Day O'Connor
of the United States Supreme Court and Chief Judge Edward R. Becker of
the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. She received
her J.D., magna ***** laude, from the University of Pennsylvania Law
School where she served as editor-in-chief of the University of
Pennsylvania Law Review. She is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Order
of the Coif.
ARTICLE #1
* Was Church/state Separation Part of the Original Constitution?: A
Review of Philip Hamburger's Provocative Recent Book on Separation's
History
Friday, Sep. 20, 2002
http://writ.news.findlaw.com/books/reviews/20020920_hamilton.html
An important point made in her article:
The Book's Value, and How It Might - and Should Not - Be Misused
[snip]
Hamburger's book also (but inadvertently) opens another, more
dangerous door. This is a scholarly book, and Professor Hamburger has
no apparent political agenda. But my fear is that those who are
hostile to the Establishment Clause will embrace the book for all the
wrong reasons - despite the fact that, on a fair reading, the book
simply does not support their view.
There are potent forces, currently dominant
[not so dominant. This is one area I strongly disagree with her on
buckeyeelo]
in this society, that would virtually unite church and state - by
increasing government financial support for religious institution, and
increasing religions' control of legislative agendas through lobbying
and political contributions. They may see this book as a handy tool.
Separation, they will argue, was not part of the original
Constitution, so there is no reason to honor it today; as long as
there is no formal state Church and no blatant religious persecution,
they may suggest, the U.S. is in full compliance with the
Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses. After all, they may point
out, there is no Separation Clause. Separation is only Thomas
Jefferson's metaphor, not the Constitution's.
The list of issues for those with the anti-separation agenda seems to
grow every day. Think of the numerous examples: state-funded vouchers
for private schools, "charitable choice," the Religious Freedom
Restoration Acts at both the federal and state level, the Religious
Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, Medicare funding
provisions that cover faith-healing, states' exemptions from parental
child neglect laws when medical care is withheld for religious
reasons, the too-short statutes of limitation governing child abuse by
clergy, and the endless list of government-financed school supplies
provided to religious schools. The list, sadly, could go on.
[snip]
This is an important book, but not an ideological one. If it is
appropriated for ideological purposes, that will be a great shame.
******************************************************************************
I talked to S. Batte the other day. She called to get some info ,
i.e instances where our web site had been cited, the book we have been
cited in and both of us quoted, as a result of our web site, etc.
That those items and her articles on our web site would count towards
her writing sample requirements and publication requirements that she
had to submit. for the opening to teach legal research at a local
University School of Law school. She wanted to resume teaching
legal research, as a "second" job, she is also a admin law judge for
the state, which was a "second" job for her for 10 years here in the
Hampton roads area at a local community college that had a 2 year
paralegal program.
Anyways, she pointed me in the direction of the following article
which she had been steered to by another.
********************************************************************************
ARTICLE #2
Philip Hamburger. Separation of Church and State. Cambridge, Mass.:
Harvard University Press, 2002. 492 pages. Notes, index. $45.00
(cloth), ISBN 0-674-00734-4.
Reviewed by: Mark D. McGarvie , Adjunct Professor of History,
University of Richmond, and Golieb Fellow in Legal History, New York
University School of Law, 2001-2002.
Published by: H-Law (March, 2003)
Was the Constitution Rewritten by Anti-Catholics? A New Approach to
the Church-State Controversy
http://www.h-net.msu.edu/reviews/showrev.cgi?path=180081052130058
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