Stephen L. Carter

In 1993 the father of a boy who had died while being cared for by Christian Science practitioners was awarded $1.5 million in a wrongful death suit. In the following viewpoint, Stephen L. Carter contends the case raises serious questions about religious liberty in America. He argues that parents should have the right to practice their religion, even if it means making choices concerning their children that many people would find irrational. Carter is a law professor at Yale University and the author of several books on religion in American life, including The Culture of Disbelief and God’s Name in Vain: The Rights and Wrongs of Religion in Politics.

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1. What did Thomas Jefferson...