Fundamentalism in American Religion and Law

David A. J. Richards is Edwin D. Webb Professor of Law at New York University School of Law, where he teaches constitutional law, criminal law, and (with Carol Gilligan) a seminar on resisting injustice. He is the author of sixteen books, most recently Tragic Manhood and Democracy: Verdi's Voice and the Powers of Musical Art (2004); Disarming Manhood: The Roots of Ethical Resistance (2005); The Case for Gay Rights: From Bowers to Lawrence and Beyond (2005); Patriarchal Religion, Sexuality, and Gender: A Critique of New Natural Law (with Nicholas Bamforth, 2008); The Deepening Darkness: Patriarchy, Resistance, and Democracy's Future (with Carol Gilligan, 2009); and The Sodomy Cases: Bowers v. Hardwick and Lawrence v. Texas (2009). He has served as vice president of the American Society for Political and Legal Philosophy and was the Shikes lecturer in civil liberties at the Harvard Law School in 1998.

• Introduction: defining the problem; 1. The progressive recognition of human rights under American constitutional law; Part I. Fundamentalism in Law: 2. The fundamentalism of constitutional originalism; 3. The motivations of constitutional fundamentalism; Part II. Fundamentalism in Religion: 4. Fundamentalism in Roman Catholicism; 5. Fundamentalism among Protestants; 6. Mormon fundamentalism; Part III. Fundamentalism in Law and Religion: 7. Patriarchal roots of constitutional fundamentalism; 8. Fundamentalism in religion and law; Conclusion: patriarchy as the American dilemma.

"In this important and challenging book, David Richards asks us to consider: how can fundamentalism in religion and law flourish in an advanced nation like the United States, given the deep consensus about the enduring values of democratic constitutionalism? Richards delves masterfully into the psychology of fundamentalism, diagnosing its irrationalities and showing how they endanger the existence of a free society. All citizens concerned about the erosion of democracy and the negative obstructionism to the progressive ideals of the Obama administration need to read this book." - Carol Gilligan, University Professor, New York University