American Religious Freedom: Reflections on Koppelman and Smith

This review essay, Review of Politics 77 (2015), 287-299, may be of interest to MOJ readers.  The abstract:

Among contemporary scholars of American religious freedom, Andrew Koppelman and Steven Smith are two of the most esteemed.  In their respective books -- Koppelman's Defending American Religious Neutrality (Harvard 2013) and Smith's The Rise and Decline of American Religious Freedom (Harvard 2014) -- they address a broad range of important issues.  Space limitations constrain me to be selective in this review essay.  I comment here on what Koppelman and Smith say, and don’t say, about two of the most fundamental issues concerning American religious freedom:  the meaning of the nonestablishment norm and the constitutionality of granting conscience-protecting exemptions only to religious believers.