Ken Starr has written a new book, and it is really good. Religious Liberty in Crisis: Exercising Your Faith in an Age of Uncertainty is a handy primer on the special protection afforded religion under the law and a plan for how religious people in the U.S. can weather these most uncertain times.
Most Americans don’t know that Starr, a former judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and Solicitor General, is one of the country’s top constitutional law experts. He is also a devout Christian. That said, Starr has skin in the game, so to speak, when it comes to the guarantee of religious liberty in the United States. In the opening chapter of his book, Starr explains its purpose:
“If you know your rights, if you understand the constitutional constraints placed on government when it comes to religious liberty, you’ll be ready to fight when the time is right. You’ll know how and when to act when the next crisis comes calling. And, make no mistake about it, the next crisis is coming.”
Yes, “the next crisis is coming.” Or perhaps it’s already here.
Starr asks, “When does the government’s authority trump religious assembly and expression?” This is a question forced on us this past year by some governors and mayors — Starr calls them “American Caesars” — who put faith in lockdown. The Supreme Court’s eventual protection of the right to worship in New York and California is a postscript to Starr’s book (Religious Liberty in Crisis went to the printing press before the Court ordered emergency relief from orders related to church attendance and worship) and is entirely consistent with the special protection religious belief receives under the Constitution.
