ABSTRACT
The status of religion in a state is conveniently measured by law. Consequently, this will be our chief approach. Law is an indicator not only, and sometimes not primarily, of the actual status of the matter that it regulates, but also of the consciousness and intention of the lawmakers. Insofar as it describes realities, law does so both directly, in describing how matters are actually regulated, and indirectly, in reflecting the concerns that guided the fashioning of the regulations. Constitutions and other fundamental laws are particularly susceptible to analysis as reflections of contemporaneous realities as well as of ideals. The ideals themselves, in turn, are reflections of the legal culture and consciousness of the legislators and of the society that they represent.
