Author ORCID Identifier
Polly Price 0000-0002-4989-7133
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2001
Keywords
Regulation of religious activities, Religious minorities, Fighting words, Expressive activity, Public forum, Tort law, Cult
Abstract
This article will consider various aspects of the U.S. legal system that affect proselytism. Although the United States has had a longstanding constitutional guarantee of the “free exercise” of religion, there are nonetheless significant constraints upon free exercise directly relating to proselytism. Some legal commentators, including Douglas Laycock, have argued that our decentralized system of government leads to insufficient protection of religious liberty, especially for religious minorities.Most case law on the subject in the United States, as well as most attempts to regulate behavior by ordinance or statute, have developed in response to groups or individuals that are outside the mainstream. As the number of adherents to religions other than Judaism or Christianity increases within the United States and as the number of activist, evangelical sects of established religions, grows, we are likely to see more instances of clashes between religious activism and the secular legal system.
First Page
537
Publication Title
Brigham Young University Law Review
Recommended Citation
Howard O. Hunter & Polly J. Price, Regulation of Religious Proselytism in the United States, 2001 BYU L. Rev. 537 (2001).
Included in
First Amendment Commons, Other Religion Commons, Religion Law Commons, Supreme Court of the United States Commons