{"id":73243,"date":"2020-09-28T09:10:55","date_gmt":"2020-09-28T14:10:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/?post_type=bu-article&#038;p=73243"},"modified":"2021-01-29T11:36:21","modified_gmt":"2021-01-29T16:36:21","slug":"five-recent-books-from-bu-law-faculty","status":"publish","type":"bu-article","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/record\/articles\/2020\/five-recent-books-from-bu-law-faculty\/","title":{"rendered":"Five Recent Books from BU Law Faculty"},"content":{"rendered":"\t<div class=\"wp-block-editorial-leadin record-block-editorial-leadin is-style-text-over-image has-media has-box has-media-focus-right-middle has-text-position-x-left has-light-theme\">\n\t\t<div class=\"container-lockup\">\n\n\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-block-leadin-media\">\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<img width=\"700\" height=\"467\" src=\"\/law\/files\/2020\/09\/unnamed-e1600891102948.jpg\" class=\"\" alt=\"Books\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2020\/09\/unnamed-e1600891102948.jpg 700w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2020\/09\/unnamed-e1600891102948-636x424.jpg 636w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2020\/09\/unnamed-e1600891102948-500x334.jpg 500w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2020\/09\/unnamed-e1600891102948-450x300.jpg 450w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2020\/09\/unnamed-e1600891102948-600x400.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"wp-block-editorial-leadin-caption wp-prepress-component-caption\">Photo by Sharon McCutcheon on Unsplash<\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"container-words-outer\">\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"container-words-inner\">\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"wp-prepress-tag\">Books<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h1 class=\"head\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFive Recent Books from BU Law Faculty\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<h4 class=\"deck\"><em>Timely and compelling topics range from the legal rights of religious minorities to an analysis of race and ethnicity in the US.<\/em><\/h4>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\t\n\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar js-block-editorial-metabar record-prepress-layout-metabar\">\n\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-date\">September 28, 2020<\/div>\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-credits\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<ul data-credit-type=\"By\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/record\/authors\/marilyn-icsman\/\">Marilyn Icsman<\/a><\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<ul data-credit-type=\"&amp;\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/record\/authors\/rebecca-beyer\/\">Rebecca Beyer<\/a><\/li>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"wp-prepress-component-metabar-share js-bu-prepress-share-tools\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-twitter\"><span>Twitter<\/span><\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-facebook\"><span>Facebook<\/span><\/span>\n\t\t\t<span class=\"icon-action\"><\/span>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\t\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-editorial-introparagraph record-block-editorial-introparagraph is-style-dropcap-default has-dropcap\"><div class=\"wp-block-editorial-introparagraph-content\"><p>The faculty at Boston University School of Law is known for research and insight that pushes academic and practical conversations in important directions. Professors Gary Lawson, Gerald Leonard, David Lyons, Linda McClain, and Jay Wexler have all recently published books related to their areas of expertise. The timely and compelling topics explored in these books\u2014ranging from the legal rights of religious minorities to an analysis of race and ethnicity in the US\u2014demonstrate the broad scope of BU Law\u2019s faculty research. Read on for more information about faculty books published since January 2019.<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<section class=\"wp-block-editorial-listicle record-block-editorial-listicle has-media\"><article class=\"wp-block-editorial-listicle-article\"><figure class=\"wp-block-editorial-listicle-figure\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"600\" height=\"758\" class=\"bu-blocks-background wp-image-73300\" src=\"\/law\/files\/2020\/09\/Deference-1.jpg\" alt=\"Deference, by Gary Lawson\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2020\/09\/Deference-1.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2020\/09\/Deference-1-503x636.jpg 503w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2020\/09\/Deference-1-540x682.jpg 540w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2020\/09\/Deference-1-272x344.jpg 272w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2020\/09\/Deference-1-419x529.jpg 419w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2020\/09\/Deference-1-545x688.jpg 545w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text wp-block-editorial-listicle-caption wp-prepress-component-caption\"><\/figcaption><\/figure><header class=\"wp-block-editorial-listicle-header\"><div class=\"wp-block-editorial-listicle-header-content\"><h3 class=\"wp-block-editorial-listicle-header-content-hed\">Gary Lawson<\/h3><h4 class=\"wp-block-editorial-listicle-header-content-dek\"><em>Deference: The Legal Concept and the Legal Practice<\/em><\/h4><\/div><\/header><section class=\"wp-block-editorial-listicle-section\"><div class=\"wp-block-editorial-listicle-section-content\"><p><em style=\"font-size: inherit;\"><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/oxford.universitypressscholarship.com\/view\/10.1093\/oso\/9780190273408.001.0001\/oso-9780190273408\" target=\"_blank\">Deference: The Legal Concept and the Legal Practice<\/a>, <\/em><span style=\"font-size: inherit;\">coauthored by Gary Lawson and Guy Seidman (Radzyner Law School), analyzes the concept of deference and how it relates to legal issues such as precedent, appellate review, federalism, and separation of powers in American law. The authors suggest that deference, which centers on how one deals with previous legal decisions, is fundamental to law, yet remains underanalyzed and undertheorized.&nbsp;<\/span><\/p><p>Their book aims to bring deference to the forefront of legal discussion and serve as a starting point for future scholarship about the concept. The authors provide a descriptive and conceptual analysis of deference that they hope will be applied by future projects on the topic. &nbsp;<\/p><p>\u201cA&nbsp;<em>lot&nbsp;<\/em>of legal disputes are about deference\u2014who gets to decide a question and how much weight those decisions hold for later actors,\u201d Lawson says.&nbsp;\u201cIn order to address those disputes, one needs to know what deference means and how it functions.&nbsp;Our goal in the book is to provide a vocabulary and analytical framework for those disputes that will hopefully make discussion clearer and more productive, however one thinks those disputes should ultimately be resolved.\u201d<\/p><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/profile\/gary-s-lawson\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Gary Lawson<\/a> is the Philip S. Beck Professor of Law. He has authored six editions of a textbook on administrative law, co-authored two books on aspects of constitutional history, and authored or coauthored more than seventy scholarly articles.<\/p><p>&nbsp;<em>Deference: The Legal Concept and the Legal Practice <\/em>was published in November 2019 by Oxford University Press.<\/p><p><\/p><\/div><div class=\"wp-block-editorial-listicle-section-meta\"><p class=\"wp-blocks-components-share-tools\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"icon-action\">Share this<\/a><\/p><\/div><\/section><\/article><\/section>\n\n\n\n<section class=\"wp-block-editorial-listicle record-block-editorial-listicle has-media\"><article class=\"wp-block-editorial-listicle-article\"><figure class=\"wp-block-editorial-listicle-figure\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"600\" height=\"758\" class=\"bu-blocks-background wp-image-73399\" src=\"\/law\/files\/2020\/09\/partisan-republic-cover.jpg\" alt=\"The Partisan Republic, by Gerald Leonard\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2020\/09\/partisan-republic-cover.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2020\/09\/partisan-republic-cover-503x636.jpg 503w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2020\/09\/partisan-republic-cover-540x682.jpg 540w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2020\/09\/partisan-republic-cover-272x344.jpg 272w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2020\/09\/partisan-republic-cover-419x529.jpg 419w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2020\/09\/partisan-republic-cover-545x688.jpg 545w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text wp-block-editorial-listicle-caption wp-prepress-component-caption\"><\/figcaption><\/figure><header class=\"wp-block-editorial-listicle-header\"><div class=\"wp-block-editorial-listicle-header-content\"><h3 class=\"wp-block-editorial-listicle-header-content-hed\">Gerald Leonard<\/h3><h4 class=\"wp-block-editorial-listicle-header-content-dek\"><em>The Partisan Republic: Democracy, Exclusion, and the Fall of the Founders\u2019 Constitution, 1780s-1830s<\/em><\/h4><\/div><\/header><section class=\"wp-block-editorial-listicle-section\"><div class=\"wp-block-editorial-listicle-section-content\"><p>Gerald Leonard and Saul Cornell (Fordham University School of Law) coauthored <em><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cambridge.org\/core\/books\/partisan-republic\/327570EC472F7C47D138938D3E30CB3A#fndtn-information\" target=\"_blank\">The Partisan Republic: Democracy, Exclusion, and the Fall of the Founders\u2019 Constitution, 1780s-1830s<\/a>, <\/em>which explores the construction of the US Constitution and its exclusion of women and people of color.<\/p><p>\u201cHow did this exclusion actually become part of the white, male ideology of what they called democracy?\u201d Leonard <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/record\/articles\/2019\/how-did-the-constitution-become-the-basis-for-exclusionary-politics\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">asks<\/a>. \u201cThere\u2019s a weird paradox in there\u2014it\u2019s not just that they forgot these people; the exclusion itself was part of the notion of what democracy was to these white men.\u201d<\/p><p>Although many Constitutional scholars look primarily to the courts to track the interpretation of the Constitution, Leonard and Cornell\u2019s analysis considers a variety of social, political, cultural, and institutional factors.<\/p><p>Through this broader analysis, the book explores how nontraditional constitutional figures like the Whiskey Rebels, Judith Sargent Murray, and James Forten played a role in shaping the law alongside the white, male elites like James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Marshall.<\/p><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/profile\/gerald-f-leonard\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Gerald Leonard<\/a> is a leading scholar on constitutionalism and previously authored <em>The Invention of Party Politics: Federalism, Popular Sovereignty, and Constitutional Development in Jacksonian Illinois<\/em>.<\/p><p>&nbsp;<em>The Partisan Republic <\/em>was published in January 2019 by Cambridge University Press.<\/p><\/div><div class=\"wp-block-editorial-listicle-section-meta\"><p class=\"wp-blocks-components-share-tools\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"icon-action\">Share this<\/a><\/p><\/div><\/section><footer class=\"wp-block-editorial-listicle-footer\"><h3 class=\"wp-block-editorial-listicle-footer-title\">Related Stories<\/h3><ul class=\"wp-block-editorial-listicle-footer-list\"><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/record\/articles\/2019\/how-did-the-constitution-become-the-basis-for-exclusionary-politics\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">How Did the Constitution Become the Basis for Exclusionary Politics?<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/footer><\/article><\/section>\n\n\n\n<section class=\"wp-block-editorial-listicle record-block-editorial-listicle has-media\"><article class=\"wp-block-editorial-listicle-article\"><figure class=\"wp-block-editorial-listicle-figure\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"600\" height=\"758\" class=\"bu-blocks-background wp-image-73303\" src=\"\/law\/files\/2020\/09\/color-line.jpg\" alt=\"The Color Line, by David Lyons\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2020\/09\/color-line.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2020\/09\/color-line-503x636.jpg 503w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2020\/09\/color-line-540x682.jpg 540w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2020\/09\/color-line-272x344.jpg 272w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2020\/09\/color-line-419x529.jpg 419w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2020\/09\/color-line-545x688.jpg 545w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text wp-block-editorial-listicle-caption wp-prepress-component-caption\"><\/figcaption><\/figure><header class=\"wp-block-editorial-listicle-header\"><div class=\"wp-block-editorial-listicle-header-content\"><h3 class=\"wp-block-editorial-listicle-header-content-hed\">David Lyons<\/h3><h4 class=\"wp-block-editorial-listicle-header-content-dek\"><em>The Color Line: A Short Introduction<\/em><\/h4><\/div><\/header><section class=\"wp-block-editorial-listicle-section\"><div class=\"wp-block-editorial-listicle-section-content\"><p><em style=\"font-size: inherit;\"><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.routledge.com\/The-Color-Line-A-Short-Introduction\/Lyons\/p\/book\/9780367818920\" target=\"_blank\">The Color Line<\/a><\/em><span style=\"font-size: inherit;\"> provides a concise history of the role of race and ethnicity in the United States, from the early colonial period to the present, to reveal the public policies and private actions that have enabled racial subordination and the stories of those who have fought against it.  <\/span><\/p><p>For most of American history, whiteness has been more valuable than citizenship. Non-whites have been second-class citizens\u2014subject to enslavement, segregation, lynching, deportation, internment, and mass incarceration.<\/p><p>Despite reforms, the color line persists, in part the entrenched legacy of past practices.<\/p><p>Americans of color, as well as some whites, have opposed the color line. Some have devoted their lives to combating racial inequity, and some have given their lives in that struggle. <em>The Color Line<\/em> offers that double-edged story.<\/p><p>Focusing on Native Americans, African Americans, Asian Americans, and Latino Americans, it explores how racial subordination developed, how it has been resisted, and how it has been sustained through independence, the abolition of slavery, the civil rights movement, and subsequent reforms. <em>The Color Line<\/em> also considers the position of European immigrants, addresses relevant moral issues, and identifies persistent problems of public policy, arguing that all four centuries of racial subordination are relevant to understanding contemporary America and some of its most urgent issues.<\/p><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/profile\/david-b-lyons\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">David Lyons<\/a> is a professor of philosophy and a professor of law emeritus and has been a political activist since the 1940s.<\/p><p><em>The Color Line<\/em> was published in December 2019 by Routledge.<\/p><p><em>Summary provided by Professor Lyons.<\/em><\/p><\/div><div class=\"wp-block-editorial-listicle-section-meta\"><p class=\"wp-blocks-components-share-tools\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"icon-action\">Share this<\/a><\/p><\/div><\/section><\/article><\/section>\n\n\n\n<section class=\"wp-block-editorial-listicle record-block-editorial-listicle has-media\"><article class=\"wp-block-editorial-listicle-article\"><figure class=\"wp-block-editorial-listicle-figure\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"600\" height=\"758\" class=\"bu-blocks-background wp-image-73246\" src=\"\/law\/files\/2020\/09\/McClain-book-cover-template-1-600x758-1.jpg\" alt=\"Who's the Bigot, by Linda McClain\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2020\/09\/McClain-book-cover-template-1-600x758-1.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2020\/09\/McClain-book-cover-template-1-600x758-1-503x636.jpg 503w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2020\/09\/McClain-book-cover-template-1-600x758-1-540x682.jpg 540w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2020\/09\/McClain-book-cover-template-1-600x758-1-272x344.jpg 272w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2020\/09\/McClain-book-cover-template-1-600x758-1-419x529.jpg 419w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2020\/09\/McClain-book-cover-template-1-600x758-1-545x688.jpg 545w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text wp-block-editorial-listicle-caption wp-prepress-component-caption\"><\/figcaption><\/figure><header class=\"wp-block-editorial-listicle-header\"><div class=\"wp-block-editorial-listicle-header-content\"><h3 class=\"wp-block-editorial-listicle-header-content-hed\">Linda McClain<\/h3><h4 class=\"wp-block-editorial-listicle-header-content-dek\"><em>Who\u2019s the Bigot?: Learning from Conflicts over Marriage and Civil Rights Law<\/em><\/h4><\/div><\/header><section class=\"wp-block-editorial-listicle-section\"><div class=\"wp-block-editorial-listicle-section-content\"><p>Linda McClain, an expert in feminist legal studies, examines the concept of bigotry in her new book, <em><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/global.oup.com\/academic\/product\/whos-the-bigot-9780190877200?q=linda%20mcclain&amp;lang=en&amp;cc=us\" target=\"_blank\">Who\u2019s the Bigot?: Learning from Conflicts over Marriage and Civil Rights Law<\/a>. <\/em>She traces the rhetoric of bigotry and notes that, although there is a long political history of denouncing bigotry, people disagree over exactly who is a bigot and what constitutes bigotry.<\/p><p>McClain <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bu.edu\/articles\/2020\/linda-mcclain-how-bigotry-shaped-civil-rights-marriage-equality-coronavirus-pandemic\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">says<\/a> that in her research, \u201cIt was striking how much more frequently the language of bigotry featured in the context of racism, anti-Semitism, and nativism, rather than sexism.<\/p><p>&nbsp;\u201cOne of the things I say in my book is that bigotry is a rhetorical tool. Someone says, \u2018you are branding me a bigot!\u2019 and that\u2019s like a tactic for saying, \u2018I\u2019m not like those odious racists of the past! How can you apply that to me?\u2019\u201d<\/p><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/profile\/linda-c-mcclain\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Linda McClain<\/a> is the Robert Kent Professor of Law and has authored and coauthored numerous books on topics related to family law, gender issues, and civil rights.&nbsp;<\/p><p><em>Who\u2019s the Bigot<\/em>? was published by Oxford University Press in March 2020.<\/p><\/div><div class=\"wp-block-editorial-listicle-section-meta\"><p class=\"wp-blocks-components-share-tools\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"icon-action\">Share this<\/a><\/p><\/div><\/section><footer class=\"wp-block-editorial-listicle-footer\"><h3 class=\"wp-block-editorial-listicle-footer-title\">Related Stories<\/h3><ul class=\"wp-block-editorial-listicle-footer-list\"><li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bu.edu\/articles\/2020\/linda-mcclain-how-bigotry-shaped-civil-rights-marriage-equality-coronavirus-pandemic\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">How Bigotry Has Shaped Civil Rights, Marriage Equality, and Now the Coronavirus Pandemic<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/footer><\/article><\/section>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-editorial-event-details record-block-editorial-event-details\" itemscope itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/Event\"><h3 class=\"wp-block-editorial-event-details-title\">Related Event<\/h3><article class=\"wp-block-editorial-event-details-article\"><div class=\"wp-block-editorial-event-details-more-info\"><h4 class=\"wp-block-editorial-event-details-event-title\" itemprop=\"name\">Who\u2019s the Bigot?<br>Learning from Conflicts over Marriage and Civil Rights Law<br><\/h4><p class=\"wp-block-editorial-event-details-description\" itemprop=\"description\">A symposium in celebration of Professor Linda McClain&#8217;s recent book.<br><br><\/p><p class=\"button wp-block-editorial-event-details-calendar-link js-block-editorial-event-details-add-to-calendar\"><\/p><\/div><div class=\"wp-block-editorial-event-details-date-location\"><time class=\"wp-block-editorial-event-details-date\" itemprop=\"startDate\" content=\"2020-10-26T12:45:00-04:00\"><span class=\"wp-block-editorial-event-details-month\">October<\/span> <span class=\"wp-block-editorial-event-details-day\">26<\/span> <span class=\"wp-block-editorial-event-details-time\">12:45 PM<\/span><\/time><p class=\"wp-block-editorial-event-details-location\" itemprop=\"location\" itemscope itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/Place\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eventbrite.com\/e\/whos-the-bigot-learning-from-conflicts-over-marriage-and-civil-rights-law-registration-113915903534\"><span itemprop=\"address\" itemscope itemtype=\"http:\/\/schema.org\/PostalAddress\">Register on Zoom<\/span><\/a><\/p><\/div><\/article><\/div>\n\n\n\n<section class=\"wp-block-editorial-listicle record-block-editorial-listicle has-media\"><article class=\"wp-block-editorial-listicle-article\"><figure class=\"wp-block-editorial-listicle-figure\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"600\" height=\"758\" class=\"bu-blocks-background wp-image-73304\" src=\"\/law\/files\/2020\/09\/non-christian-nation.jpg\" alt=\"Our Non-Christian Nation, by Jay Wexler\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2020\/09\/non-christian-nation.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2020\/09\/non-christian-nation-503x636.jpg 503w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2020\/09\/non-christian-nation-540x682.jpg 540w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2020\/09\/non-christian-nation-272x344.jpg 272w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2020\/09\/non-christian-nation-419x529.jpg 419w, https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/files\/2020\/09\/non-christian-nation-545x688.jpg 545w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text wp-block-editorial-listicle-caption wp-prepress-component-caption\"><\/figcaption><\/figure><header class=\"wp-block-editorial-listicle-header\"><div class=\"wp-block-editorial-listicle-header-content\"><h3 class=\"wp-block-editorial-listicle-header-content-hed\">Jay Wexler<\/h3><h4 class=\"wp-block-editorial-listicle-header-content-dek\">Our Non-Christian Nation: How Atheists, Satanists, Pagans, and Others are Demanding Their Rightful Place in Public Life<\/h4><\/div><\/header><section class=\"wp-block-editorial-listicle-section\"><div class=\"wp-block-editorial-listicle-section-content\"><p>Jay Wexler examines the importance of religious freedom for minority religions in his book, <em><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sup.org\/books\/title\/?id=27312\" target=\"_blank\">Our Non-Christian Nation: How Atheists, Satanists, Pagans, and Others are Demanding Their Rightful Place in Public Life.<\/a> <\/em>The book chronicles Wexler\u2019s travels across the country to engage with non-Christians who have been at the forefront of advocating for religious liberty in the US.<\/p><p>He suggests that we live in a post-separation of Church and State system, and illustrates this through several Supreme Court cases that demonstrate the country\u2019s trend away from a secular state. If a secular state is out of reach, he argues that a pluralist society is the next-best option to uphold free speech, inclusivity, and diversity.<\/p><p>\u201cEven if it\u2019s chaotic, I prefer the chaos to hegemony,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/record\/articles\/2019\/jay-wexler-post-separation-church-and-state\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">says<\/a> Wexler, who has written two previous books about church-state law. \u201cMy guess is that over time the chaos will go away and people will recognize that we do live in a religiously diverse nation, so I think it\u2019s at least worth trying.\u201d<\/p><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/profile\/jay-d-wexler\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Professor Wexler\u2019s<\/a> scholarship focuses on church-state law, constitutional law, environmental law, and marijuana law, and he has authored six books.&nbsp;<\/p><p><em>Our Non-Christian Nation<\/em> was published in June 2019 by Stanford University Press.<\/p><\/div><div class=\"wp-block-editorial-listicle-section-meta\"><p class=\"wp-blocks-components-share-tools\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"icon-action\">Share this<\/a><\/p><\/div><\/section><footer class=\"wp-block-editorial-listicle-footer\"><h3 class=\"wp-block-editorial-listicle-footer-title\">Related Stories<\/h3><ul class=\"wp-block-editorial-listicle-footer-list\"><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/record\/articles\/2019\/jay-wexler-post-separation-church-and-state\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Toward a Pluralist Public Square<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/footer><\/article><\/section>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The faculty at Boston University School of Law is known for research and insight that pushes academic and practical conversations in important directions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18313,"featured_media":73403,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"bu_prepress_billboard":"","_bu_prepress_primary_term":"Books","_bu_prepress_primary_term_manual":""},"tags":[1819,2603,1673,3900,1333],"bu-publication":[3742],"record-article-category":[3918,3746,3770,3751,3786],"record-topic":[],"bu_edition":[],"media_type":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/73243"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/bu-article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18313"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73243"}],"version-history":[{"count":24,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/73243\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":73404,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-article\/73243\/revisions\/73404"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73243"},{"taxonomy":"bu-publication","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu-publication?post=73243"},{"taxonomy":"record-article-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/record-article-category?post=73243"},{"taxonomy":"record-topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/record-topic?post=73243"},{"taxonomy":"bu_edition","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bu_edition?post=73243"},{"taxonomy":"media_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/law\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media_type?post=73243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}