ABSTRACT
Almost Everybody Believes that religion requires special treatment in some circumstances. Sometimes it seems that religion should be subject to special prohibitions. For example, the government funds artistic enterprise through the National Endowment for the Arts, but it would obviously be problematic—if not plainly unconstitutional—for the government to set up a National Endowment for Religion. Conversely, in other contexts it seems appropriate to grant religious believers special permissions. For example, churches may refuse to hire women as ministers even though antidiscrimination statutes forbid employers from making sex-based distinctions.
