Rooted in the tradition of a pluralistic society, the First Amendment to the US Constitution (above) protects freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly and petition. As Justice Robert Jackson wrote in West Virginia vs Barnette (1943), the First Amendment guarantees that:

In this book John Witte, a specialist in legal history, marriage and religious liberty and director of the Centre for the Study of Law and Religion at the Emory University School of Law, analyses the ‘American experiment’ of religious liberty, from the founding fathers through to present challenges. In the time of the ‘culture wars’, the standpoint of the author is clear from the beginning: ‘I still prefer to view America not as a Christian nation but as a nation with the soul of a sanctuary – both the sanctuary of churches and the sanctuary of consciences’ (p xvi).

In the introduction, the author outlines the six principles ‘incorporated’ into the First Amendment for the protection of religious freedom: liberty of conscience; free exercise of religion; religious pluralism; religious equality; separation of church and state; and disestablishment of religion. Chapter one describes ‘the American experiment in historical context’, comparing the American understanding of religious liberty with the Western legal tradition. The author stresses that ‘the American founders revolutionized the Western tradition of religious liberty. But they also remained within this Western tradition, dependent on its enduring and evolving postulates about God and humanity, authority and liberty, church and state’ (p 3). Chapter two outlines the theological and political views that influenced the American founders: Puritan, Evangelical, Enlightenment and Republican. In chapter three, the author defines the essential tools for his ‘principled approach’ and stresses the interdependence of the six basic principles.

Chapter four is dedicated to the historical reconstruction of the different proposed formulas that led to the final text of the First Amendment. In this chapter, Witte also carefully analyses, through a ‘word by word approach’, all sixteen words of the establishment clause and free-exercise clause. Before 1947, the issues concerning religion were left to the states and to their constitutions. Through the landmark cases Cantwell vs Connecticut (1940) and Everson vs Board of education (1947), as Witte says,

Chapters five and six describe the treatment of religious issues between the different states and the US Supreme Court before 1947. Chapters seven and eight deal with the modern free exercise and disestablishment law. Chapter nine analyses the First Amendment in the context of international norms concerning the protection of religious freedom. The First Amendment has provided a robust protection of religious freedom through the years, yet the emergence of new religions and the need to accommodate their religious concerns raise a difficult task for the Supreme Court: ‘how to balance the freedom of all religion with the maintenance of a public religion that is neither a newly established secularism nor a traditionally established Christianity’ (p 253). ‘In the religiously heterogeneous environment of our day – with more than 1000 incorporated denominations on the books – no such effective common religion can be readily devised or defended’ (p 255). In his conclusion, Witte argues for a sincere, structured and open process of religious discourse. A discourse where all the religions are called to ‘take their place in the marketplace’ (p 257).

The metaphor of the marketplace used by the author is a powerful tool that can be useful in explaining the extraordinary success of the ‘American experiment’. European scholars could introduce into their analysis this powerful metaphor to frame the understanding of a new concept of religious freedom in Europe, based on the principle of equality among different religions. The book is also notable for the author's ability to integrate theological, historical, legal, philosophical and sociological sources in the creation of a truly interdisciplinary work of legal scholarship. If the post-modern era is an era of fragmentation, diffusion and micro-narratives, Witte does a marvellous job in analysing the casuistic logic of the Supreme Court jurisprudence. His ‘principled approach’ gives a coherent picture of a sometimes self-contradictory line of reasoning. The conclusion is followed by three appendices: the drafts of the federal religion clauses, 1787–1789; the state's constitutional provisions on religion (as of 1947); and the decisions of the US Supreme Court relating to religious liberty. There are no final answers in this book, but the questions raised are of great importance. The ‘wall of separation’ between religion and politics, between state and religion is, and will remain, a contested one. This is a self-evident truth.