The Bosque Boys

With the attempt to challenge the Bush Administration's Faith-Based Initiaitive before the Supreme Court, I continue some background on the relation of government to religion in the U.S. This topic often is referred to as Church and State.

In part 1, I briefly surveyed the situation from the founding of the United States into the 20th century. Summary: by the 1830s we had a de facto Protestant establishment that was supported by the courts. Things changed in the 20th century. In part 2 I highlighted the cultural shifts that form the background for these changes. Summary: religious diversification of the population, secularization of the elites, and the expansion of the role and power of the federal government, vis-a-vis state and local governments, gradually removed court support from the de facto Protestant Establishment. In part 3 I wish to summarize specific cases that brought us to the present situation. Part 3 will take multiple posts. (There are many helpful books on these things. For specific cases I recommend a good handbook such as The Oxford Companion to the Supreme Court of the United States.) (cont. below)

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In addition to the Okie Gardener's excellent coverage and background in re the Supreme Court and the President's Faith-based Initiatives, please consider this instructive review of Philip Hamburger's 2002 offering, Separation of Church and State, from the Intercollegiate Review (Volume 39, Number 1-2; Fall 2003/Spring 2004), written by friend of the Bosque Boys, Cory Andrews.

Read the review, "The Metaphor as Wrecking Ball," in PDF here.

In part 1, I briefly surveyed the situation from the founding of the United States into the 20th century. Summary: by the 1830s we had a de facto Protestant establishment that was supported by the courts. Things changed in the 20th century. In this post, I wish to highlight the cultural and legal factors that led to the change, then in part 3 cover the change with reference to specific cases.

First, even as the de facto Protestant Establishment was strengthening, population demographics were changing in ways that would ultimately help undermine this hegemony. Large numbers of Irish and German immigrants radically increased Roman Catholic numbers in the U.S. so that even prior to the Civil War Roman Catholicism was the largest single religious group, though still smaller than the aggregate of Protestants. After the Civil War immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe augmented Roman Catholicism, brought large numbers of Eastern Orthodox Christians to this country, and significantly increased the Jewish population. Some changes were homegrown; new religious movements such as Christian Science, Transendentalism, and Mormonism would challenge Protestantism's grip on American culture and politics. Favoritism toward generic Protestantism seemed to discriminate against these other groups. (more below)

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Perhaps the best "one-stop-shopping" for information on the current court challenge is LawMemo here.

Other sources are found in my earlier post.

At this juncture, the court case will decide whether taxpayers have the standing in court to sue the executive branch over a First-Amendment issue such as the Faith-Based Initiative. If the Supreme Court rules in favor of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, then I assume the foundation will then take the Bush Administration to court over the constitutionality of the Faith-Based Initiative plan.

For historical background on church and state in the U.S., see the category Religion and Public Policy on the right of this blog.