CONN 324 | Religious Freedom and the Law

This class draws upon the disciplines of history, law, and religious studies to understand how religious liberty has developed in the Anglo-American tradition. It traces a thousand-year trajectory by starting with the medieval doctrine of ¿two swords,¿ temporal and spiritual, in order to provide historical context for the American separation of church and state. It ends with contemporary Supreme Court battles over the free exercise clause. This is not only an American law class; it is an interdisciplinary inquiry into how religion and theology, history, and constitutional interpretation intersect to define the boundaries between religion and the state in the Anglo-American tradition.