ABSTRACT
This chapter illuminates the issue of church-state relations and accounts for the diverse positions that can be taken on the relationship between the sacred and the secular. Religious freedom is considered so fundamental as to reflect the basic social contract, and its constitutional context involves the following clauses in the First Amendment: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof". This issue has become a problem for our political system because there is little agreement on what the sparse language of the religion clauses mean. American attitudes about the relationship between God and Caesar are subject to two conflicting forces. First, Americans are a highly religious people. Second, and conversely, the principle of the constitutional separation of church and state is a powerful symbol in American political discourse. The political maturation of the Christian Right has been accompanied by a shift in interest group rhetoric.
