Religion, Conscience, and the Case for Accommodation

Authors

William A. Galston

Library of Congress Authority File

http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n79122466.html

http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n85026611.html

Document Type

Is Religion Outdated (as a Constitutional Category)?

Abstract

I do not believe that religion is an obsolete constitutional category. But I do believe that the holdings in United States v. Seeger and Welsh v. United States, the Vietnam-era draft cases that extended conscientious objector status to individuals invoking nonreligious claims, were correct. Can I consistently embrace both propositions? I think I can. My argument, in brief, is that religion is indeed special. But when we understand what it is about religion that warrants both distinctive privileges and distinctive burdens, we will see that some other systems of belief track these features of religion closely enough to warrant comparable treatment. Still, religion is the exemplary core of the genus of such beliefs.

Recommended Citation

William A. Galston, Religion, Conscience, and the Case for Accommodation, 51 San Diego L. Rev. 1045 (2014).
Available at: https://digital.sandiego.edu/sdlr/vol51/iss4/11