Posts by James D. McWilliams:
Zoning religion: the battle over RLUIPA
Editor’s note: This article was written in 2003. See
update below on U.S. Supreme Court’s 2005 ruling in Cutter v.
Wilkinson.
Today, the First Amendment of the Constitution protects a person’s right to
worship freely, but controversy still rages over how much power local
governments should have over where and when religious groups can
worship. While religious groups assert that governments [...]
Comic books
The Supreme Court has clearly protected comic books under the First Amendment since the 1948 case of Winters v. New York, but that ruling has never stopped censors from trying to banish comics to a “kids-only” ghetto where artists and writers have limited freedom.
In fact, a national wave of comic-book censorship struck only six years [...]
Released time
In the 1925 case of Pierce v. Society of Sisters, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states cannot use their compulsory education laws to prevent children from attending private, religious schools, instead of public schools. In the decades since, the Court has gone much further to accommodate students’ religious needs, by ruling that public schools [...]
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Ken Paulson is president and chief executive officer of the First Amendment Center at Vanderbilt University and in Washington, D.C. Previously, Paulson served as the editor and senior vice president/news of USA Today.
Gene Policinski, senior vice president and executive director of the First Amendment Center and president and chief operating officer of the Diversity Institute, is a veteran journalist whose career has included work in newspapers, radio, television and online.
John Seigenthaler founded the First Amendment Center in 1991 with the mission of creating national discussion, dialogue and debate about First Amendment rights and values.
Dr. Charles C. Haynes is director of the Religious Freedom Education Project at the Newseum. He writes and speaks extensively on religious liberty and religion in American public life.
David L. Hudson Jr. is an expert in First Amendment issues who writes for firstamendmentcenter.org and for other publications. Hudson teaches law and was a scholar at the First Amendment Center.
Tiffany Villager is director/First Amendment studies at the First Amendment Center, which she joined in 1993. She also served as the center’s research manager and research coordinator, and developed the center’s library.
