Annotated Bibliography on the Supreme Court’s Treatment of Separation of Church and State

Excerpts from the Paper

Annotated Bibliography on the Supreme Court's Treatment of Separation of Church and State
Feldman, N. (2002). From Liberty to Equality: The Transformation
of the Establishment Clause. California Law Review. 90(3), pp. 673-731.
This journal article by Noah Feldman traces the transformation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment which asserts that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.” Evidence is examined to support the hypothesis that over the last fifty years the Supreme Court has transformed the rationale of the Establishment Clause from protecting the liberty of conscience of religious dissenters to guaranteeing the political equality of religious minorities. Findings point to the conclusion...

.....which involved an attempt by educators to ban the teaching of evolution. So, in the final outcome, the researchers suggest that critics are correct in the school prayer decisions were "full sound and fury, signifying very little.”
Suggested Thesis: the thesis should address the question of whether the Supreme Court's treatment of the separation of church and state issue has led to an interpretation of conscience as religion. The findings of the review of literature point in this direction. It would, therefore, be a good idea to end your paper with a discussion of the implications of findings. In other words, if conscience is equivalent to religion, what does this say about discourse in schools, public institutions, government, and so forth?