Fair enough. Secularism is not the only source of resistance to free
exercise. Conservative views of the judicial role are another source, and in
Smith, Scalia went with his judicial conservatism instead of with his religious
intensity.
And be clear that in my view, one's views of religious liberty should be
independent of one's views about religion; the whole point is that we all agree
to respect each other's religious views no matter how much we disagree. Some
Americans adhere to that ideal, and some of those who adhere to it are on this
list.
But plainly, many Americans do not adhere to that ideal, and it seems to me
obvious in the behavior of interest groups that intense religious believers of
all sorts, who once would have been persecuting each other, are now banded
together to defend themselves against secularists who think free exercise is
just a plea for special privilege, and that it gets in the way of their agenda
on other issues.
Quoting Steven Jamar <stevenja...@gmail.com>:
> *Smith* is arguably the biggest step minimalizing free exercise and I would
> not consider Scalia a secularist. So, Doug, I fear I must be missing the
> import of your statement.
>
> Steve
>
> On Thu, Oct 8, 2009 at 11:15 PM, Douglas Laycock <layco...@umich.edu> wrote:
>
>> Intuitively, it would matter a lot more whether there are many faiths or
>> only one. The current US alignment of secularists minimizing free exercise
>> and conservative believers minimizing disestablishment is a very recent
>> development.
>>
>>
> --
> Prof. Steven Jamar
> Howard University School of Law
> Associate Director, Institute of Intellectual Property and Social Justice
> (IIPSJ) Inc.
>
Douglas Laycock
Yale Kamisar Collegiate Professor of Law
University of Michigan Law School
625 S. State St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1215
734-647-9713
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