Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2001
Publication Information
42 B.C. L. Rev. 771 (2001).
Abstract
The government exempts religious associations from taxation and, in return, restricts their putatively political expression and activities. This exemption-and-restriction scheme invites government to interpret and categorize the means by which religious communities live out their vocations and engage the world. But government is neither well-suited nor to be trusted with this kind of line-drawing. What's more, this invitation is dangerous to authentically religious consciousness and associations. When government communicates and enforces its own view of the nature of religion - i.e., that it is a private matter - and of its proper place - i.e., in the private sphere, not in politics - it tempts both believers and faith communities to embrace this view. The result is a privatized faith, re-shaped to suit the vision and needs of government, and a public square evacuated of religious associations capable of mediating between persons and the state and challenging prophetically the government's claims and conduct.
Recommended Citation
Richard W. Garnett,
A Quiet Faith? Taxes, Politics, and the Privatization of Religion,
42 B.C. L. Rev. 771 (2001)..
Available at:
https://scholarship.law.nd.edu/law_faculty_scholarship/47
Comments
Reprinted with permission of the Boston College Law Review.