The Author: Gordon Albert Babst is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Chapman University in Orange, California, and is responsible for the curriculum in political philosophy and theory. His research interests have been the status of politically and socially unpopular persons and groups within the legal and political context of the liberal-democratic regime, and his Ph.D. dissertation focused attention on the citizenship status of Americans who happen to be gay or lesbian.

«This is an almost perfectly written, very well researched, and very concise book. Its argument for the ‘shadow establishment’ of religion in the United States is a major intellectual and political contribution to the popular, as well as academic and judicial, debates. The argument is well made, and its logic contributes to clarifying the boundary-line between the secular and the sectarian. This book will be of interest to students of American politics and policymaking, women’s studies, gay and lesbian studies, and political theory.» (Terrell Carver, University of Bristol, United Kingdom)«Through his notion of a ‘shadow establishment’ of religion, Dr. Babst has here made an original contribution to constitutional thought at the same time as he has advanced the argument about same-sex marriage.» (H.N. Hirsch, G. Theodore Mitau Professor of Political Science, Macalester College)