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Ever since the Supreme Court began enforcing the First Amendment's religion clauses in the 1940s, courts and scholars have tried to distill the meaning of those clauses into a useable principle of religious freedom. In this highly original work, Smith criticizes the main positions in the debate and explains their misconceptions. He argues that efforts to find a principle of religious freedom in the "original meaning" are fruitless because the clauses were purely jurisdictional in nature: they were meant to place authority over questions of religion with the states, and nothing more. Contending that the perennial quest to distill religious freedom into a "principle," is futile, Smith advocates a fundamental reassessment of the premises upon which courts have proceeded in this area.

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CHOICE Review

Foreordained Failure thoroughly treats the constitutional issue of the basic principles underlying the right of freedom of religion; it is politically significant at this time because of the growing power of the religious right in our society. Smith, a law teacher, carefully examines the various efforts over the decades to explain the philosophical underpinning of freedom of religion. He rejects them all. He takes the position that there is no single principle on which to base religious freedom, but he refrains from prescribing what should be its constitutional rationale. He suggests some other approaches. Perhaps the federal courts should not be included in the process of interpretation. It is a provocative essay, and its points deserve wide discussion. It is clearly written and very well documented. Highly recommended for public, college, university, theological, and law libraries. L. E. Noble Jr.; emeritus, Clark Atlanta University