The Americanization of Religious Minorities: Confronting the Constitutional Order

by Eric Mazur

Book Overview

How minority religions and the Constitution accommodate each other.

What happens when a minority religious group's beliefs run counter to the laws and principles of the American constitution? How do Americans reconcile the conflicting demands of church and state? In The Americanization of Religious Minorities, Eric Michael Mazur recounts the experiences of Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, and Native Americans as cases in which minority religious groups seek to practice their faith in a constitutional order that recognizes a higher authority different from, and sometimes incompatible with, their own.

Mazur identifies three basic strategies these minority religious groups can follow: establishing a separate peace; accommodating their theology to political realities; and engaging in sustained conflict. He shows that, in order to practice its faith without hindrance from the law, a member of a religious minority must somehow buy into the principles and values of America's constitutional government. He also concludes that the closer a minority's beliefs are to Protestant Christianity, the easier the accommodation. Throughout, Mazur emphasizes the experience of religious minorities in dealing with this problem.

A fascinating investigation of religious groups' right to practice their faith, The Americanization of Religious Minorities will be of interest to students and scholars of American religion, American politics, and sociology.

" I believe] the First Amendment represents the gift with the greatest potential to be given by this country to the world. But I also believe it is a promise that, like the messiah, is always coming but never here. We must understand what we have done to others who have faced the dilemma of being religious minorities in this culture so that we can better understand the limits, and the potential, of our hopes for greater religious freedom."--from the Preface

"It has long been accepted that no freedom is absolute, but we do not often examine the implicit boundaries set on religious freedom or think about the ramifications for religious communities that--for any number of reasons--do not consider themselves, or are not considered by others, part of the mainstream. Part of the value of this analysis rests in its exploration of how minority religious communities balance the desire to join the dominant culture, on the one hand, with the sometimes conflicting desire to maintain a particularistic community identity, on the other."--from the Introduction

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0801880564
• ISBN13: 9780801880568
• Release Date: August 2004
• Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.4" x 8.4"

Customer Reviews

Religion and the Government

Not a student of religion or constitutional law, I approached this book with trepidation. I was pleasantly surprised to find, however, that it serves as a valuable and truly interesting introduction to an important subject. The Mormon, Native American, and Jehovah's witness communities have confronted the government with the fundamental issue of free exercise. The lessons we learn from Mazur's careful analyses are invaluable. They are history lessons that show us the limitations of the Constitution, but also show the author's great respect for it as a potential source of salvation for America.