What effect?

[Stephen M. Feldman]

Dear Professor O'Brien:
My impression is that you seriously overstate the importance of the cases
involving the Jehovah's Witnesses when you write that the Jehovah's
Witnesses "have been largely responsible for forming modern American
church-state law."  In chapter 9 of my book, Please Don't Wish Me a Merry
Christmas:  A Critical History of the Separation of Church and State (N.Y.U.
Press, 1997), I discuss a number of factors that influenced the emergence of
the the Supreme Court's religion clause doctrine in the years after World
War II (please pardon the self-serving citation).  Some other factors
include the changing population demographics between Protestants and Roman
Catholics in America, a reduced tolerance for expressions of overt prejudice
(e.g. racism, antisemitism, etc.) after the War, and an increased judicial
concern for civil rights related to democracy.
Sincerely,
Stephen M. Feldman
Professor of Law and Political Science
University of Tulsa

>As I continue studying the persecution of the Jehovah's Witnesses in in the
>'40s, I have become curious about contrasts between the effects of the
>first great religious persectution in America, that of the Mormon's, and
>the effects of the second great religious persecution, that of the JWs.
>
>My impression is that, except for polygamy laws, the Latter Day Saints have
>had almost no effect upon American law, whereas the JWs have been largely
>responsible for forming modern American church-state law. Am I in error?
>
>Robert O'Brien                                      West Virginia Wesleyan
>College
>obrien at .wvwc.edu
>