The Path to the Public Good

Abstract

Were all religious institutions and individuals always beneficial to the public, this book would not be needed. The rule would be plain: Religious liberty is absolute. Religious entities would not need to be deterred from criminal or tortious behavior. The purpose of this book has been to explain why even religious individuals and institutions must be governed by duly enacted laws. The logistics of the landmark Boerne v. Flores case, discussed in chapter 8, brought me into contact with the many groups in this society that lobby against damaging religious conduct, like the American Academy of Pediatrics, Children's Healthcare Is a Legal Duty (CHILD), district attorneys, and state regulatory agencies. Getting to know them educated me in two ways. First, I learned that my original theory of free exercise that would have excused religious entities from the vast majority of laws was patently absurd. It was a product of the ivory tower – a theory based on ignorance of religious conduct. As I soon came to recognize, I (like many Americans) was a Pollyanna when it came to religion. Second, I came to see what I could not see before. Religious conduct in the United States (and around the world) had an underbelly few knew about, fewer discussed, and even fewer discussed publicly. It was Aristotle who said: “We have to learn before we can do … we learn by doing.”