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This paper is an aesthetic analysis of the practice of serpent handling by Christians in the Appalachian region of the United States. The purpose of this analysis is to understand serpent handling's aesthetic relationship to the Pentecostal tradition and exposit the implications of this relationship for the practice's legal status. The first section examines the history and defining characteristics of serpent handling and introduces the controversial problem of whether the practice can be categorized within the Pentecostal movement. The second section argues that serpent handling can be understood as belonging within the broader global Pentecostal tradition through engagement with the Pentecostal aesthetics of Nimi Wariboko. The final section concludes that if serpent handling is legible according to the aesthetic norms of Pentecostalism, a now broadly tolerated religious tradition in the United States, then this necessitates a wholesale reconsideration of antiserpent handling legislation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

This Note argues for a change in the Supreme Court’s treatment of free exercise claims over Indigenous sacred sites. First, this Note reasons that, in Lyng v. Northwest Indian Cemetery Protective Ass’n, the Court set an impossibly high standard for parties bringing sacred site free exercise claims against the government. This insurmountable standard, masking itself as strict scrutiny, implicitly precludes any claimant from prevailing against a government action designated for a sacred site. Further, statutes aimed at protecting religious liberty have resolved little, leaving no choice but to rework the standard. Next, this Note delves into three preexisting theories from like-minded critics of Lyng and analyzes the pros and cons of their proposed approaches to sacred site free exercise claims. Lastly, this Note sets forth a novel test that modifies the framework courts currently use in free exercise jurisprudence. Appreciating the fundamental distinctions between religious land and religious acts, this new test is uniquely tailored to address claims over sacred lands. This proposed test seeks to (1) give religious claimants a realistic opportunity to meet their initial burden in court, (2) put sacred site claims on equal footing with other free exercise claims, and (3) address the Supreme Court’s concerns with overexpanding free exercise doctrine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

The growth of religious disaffiliation in the United States over the past three decades is historically unprecedented. This article argues that disaffiliation is a form of moral protest against lingering coloniality in American global North Christianities and appeals for missiologists to adopt a decolonial lens to more effectively critique harmful religious systems and investigate exterior forms of Christianities otherwise in the North American context. The article explores existing sociological and empirical data on disaffiliation, deconversion, and religious harms to expose the moral protest of disaffiliation. Decoloniality is distinguished from postcolonialism to reveal its relevance for the subject matter and identify its method. Using examples of North American missiologies, the article demonstrates how latent forms of coloniality are preserved despite decolonizing efforts in the field and how a decolonial lens can bring new works of the spirit into focus. Finally, it briefly explores implications for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

Under modern Supreme Court jurisprudence, the First Amendment ordinarily imposes no heightened standard of review upon neutral laws of general applicability that coincidentally burden the free exercise of religion. To relieve or minimize this burden, however, lawmakers are generally free to promulgate exemptions from, or accommodations to, such laws for the benefit of religious adherents. Such accommodations are common. When a law is not neutral with respect to religion, or when the law is not generally applicable, then it will be subject to the exacting test of strict scrutiny to the extent that it burdens the free exercise of religion. Should the law fail this test, the Constitution requires--at a minimum--an exemption from the law to protect those whose religious exercise is burdened by its application. An undertheorized phenomenon in this area is the repeal of a religious accommodation that had been previously granted. Although such an accommodation may not have been constitutionally required ex ante, it is far from clear that its repeal can be freely executed ex post. By its very terms, any such repeal would typically appear to be non-neutral with respect to religion, thereby implicating the test of strict scrutiny. The Article addresses this lacuna in constitutional thought, concluding that, unless a religious accommodation is repealed alongside all other applicable exemptions to the law in question, such a repeal would indeed be subject to the text of strict scrutiny, and, consequently, most likely unconstitutional. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

This Note analyzes sacred site protection under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act ("RFRA") and argues that the Ninth Circuit's upcoming en banc review of Apache Stronghold is a critical moment for many Indigenous faiths. Against the backdrop of a religious freedom resurgence for other faiths over the past decade, the practitioners in Apache Stronghold face the irreparable loss of identity and culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

An essay is presented which explores the application of strict scrutiny by U.S. courts in the protection of religious liberty. Topics discussed include the acknowledgment of strict scrutiny as a rule of exclusion and evidentiary burden, the legal framework for the protection of constitutional rights noted by law professor Adrian Vermeule in his 2022 book "Common Good Constitutionalism," and the concerns previously raised by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh regarding strict scrutiny. more...

The article discusses religious arbitration in the U.S. court system with regard to the California Superior Court case Bixler v. Church of Scientology International. Topics explored include the interpretation and applicability of the U.S. Federal Arbitration Act (FAA), the history, policies, and internal discipline system of the Church of Scientology, and the alleged exploitation of the FAA and the First Amendment's protection of religious freedom by the said Church. more...

Spiritual care in a religiously plural society necessarily includes care for the nonreligious. However, little is known about the nonreligious people who themselves work to provide spiritual care. Today, spiritual care providers, better known in the United States context as chaplains, come from a wide variety of religious backgrounds, including nonreligious or unaffiliated with religious tradition. While nonreligious chaplains have robust pluralistic skillsets—a professional strength and a benefit to spiritual care work—they nonetheless encounter training and workplace challenges specific to their religious identities. The theoretical framework of Christian normativity could account for these challenges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

Modern problems require modern solutions; in the same vein, modern religions pose unconventional points of contention regarding the role of the government and whether they should - or should not - regulate what constitutes a legitimate religion. This analysis will discuss the ever evolving world of faith in the United States, the argument for restricting new belief systems' access to institutional advantages, the conventional metrics for differentiating a secular versus non-secular organization, and the potential consequences for lax governmental interference. At the helm, three "modern" religions as well as their primary legal controversies are assessed: Scientology in its quest for religious tax exemptions, Pastafarianism in how a satirical organization fulfills all traditional tenets of religion, and finally, LaVeyan Satanism in what separates faith from philosophy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

The article examines the shift in Free Exercise jurisprudence in the U.S., particularly the transition from strict scrutiny in Sherbert v. Verner and Wisconsin v. Yoder to the standard set by Employment Division v. Smith. It outlines the key aspects of the earlier cases, emphasizing the need for a compelling state interest to justify infringement on religious freedom. more...

The present study explores how religion reporters in the United States (n = 20) define religion and privilege religious identities, at times also working to combat dominant hegemonic narratives about some of these religious groups. We find that some religion reporters covered religion in ways that reflect the institutional power of religious traditions, whereas others aimed to combat the hegemonic power structures of dominant religious identities by covering less prominent groups or usurping stereotypical framings of other groups. This paper (1) provides a window into the evolving landscape of religious news in the United States, tracing how many of these journalists aim or at least recognize the need to overcome White, Protestant hegemonic lenses for understanding religion in the United States through their reporting, and (2) demonstrates how religion reporters' approaches to covering religion, even while drawing from secular principles and values of journalism, are a byproduct of religion itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

Scholars and pundits have devoted significant attention to the rise of the religiously unaffiliated in the United States in recent years. Within that demographic there are many former evangelical Christians who remain Christian but are no longer evangelical or have abandoned Christianity altogether. Many of these former evangelical Christians identify as exvangelicals. This essay analyzes autobiographies written by exvangelicals, and argues that their narratives of deconversion can best be understood in the generic tradition of the conversion narrative. When situated in this generic context, these exvangelical autobiographies testify to a crisis in twenty-first-century religious politics that mirrors similar tensions in the past and suggests the US is in a period of civic transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

During the COVID-19 crisis, the Korean government's restrictions on religious freedom have caused several reactions. These can be divided into two categories: first, as several Christian groups have become the center of controversy over exacerbating the spread of COVID-19, the public sentiment towards religious gatherings has lost favorability. Second, there had been an increase in resistance to Christian groups and their right to worship. Regarding these issues, although the resistance from religious groups has not been as prominent as in the West, it is believed by both Korea and the West that the conflict between state power and religious right is at the root of this problem. This study reviews the Korean government's restrictions on religious activities and the consequent resistance of churches from a legal and institutional angle. In addition, this study compares the Korean approach to that of the United States in terms of governmental measures, the resistance of churches, and judgments issued by the judiciary. After demonstrating stronger restrictions in the case of Korea, this study evaluates this response in terms of legal and religious pluralism, and suggests that more sophisticated legal and institutional supplementation is needed to establish a robust and viable religious governance based on diversity and mutual respect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

Legal and governmental threats to religious freedom are increasingly prevalent in the United States. In order to understand and combat this encroachment on the right of the Church to carry out her divine mission, it is essential to examine the basis of the right to religious liberty in natural law and theology as well as its expression in certain norms of canon law. Then, recent legal and judicial activity related to religious liberty in the United States must be explored and understood. Upon recognizing the current state of affairs, consideration should also be given to how injustices can be combatted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

This article explores depictions of religion and religious topics in children's biographies included on the National Science Teacher's Association's Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K-12 lists from 2011 through 2017. While disagreements and controversies about the role of religion in U.S. public schools are not new, these debates have experienced a resurgence in recent years due, in part, to the increased emphasis placed upon science as a content area. As a vital component of transformative, democratic, justice-oriented education, educators have a responsibility to validate and honor their students' religious liberties, and understand and respect a variety of different belief systems. And yet, teachers often report feeling unprepared and even afraid to discuss religions in public school settings. Grounded in the belief that all knowledge, including scientific knowledge, is socially constructed, this article explores the ways in which these topics are taken up in children's books that have been identified as exemplary and recommended for classroom use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

Past decades have witnessed an accelerating proliferation of managerial and market-associated discourses and imperatives across the traditional religious-organizational field. Based on theoretical perspectives on marketization, this article outlines a general analytical framework by which to approach, empirically investigate, and understand processes of organizational marketization as they unfold in contemporary religious-organizational settings. As illustrated by more recent developments among the Protestant mainline denominations in the United States, the article (1) provides a general sociological explanation for the primary reasons why processes of organizational marketization have been set in motion within the US mainline; (2) outlines the main ways and means by which such processes have tended to unfold; and (3) accounts for their main practical effects on current mainline organizational cultures and working routines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

This paper considers how three jurisdictions, Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom, have sought to reconcile freedom of religion with equality rights, particularly in the commercial context, and particularly in relation to sexual orientation. The recent decisions of the United Kingdom Supreme Court and United States Supreme Court form the backdrop for that discussion. It is argued that the former made piecemeal, and misleading, use of American case law, and a fuller consideration of that jurisdiction's position was warranted, and would have led to a different view of the recent American decision. It argues that the United Kingdom Supreme Court was in error in viewing a message on a cake ordered from a baker as an example of the baker's expression, leading it to an incorrect conclusion at odds with statutory mandates in the commercial sphere around refusals of service. Both high court decisions risk undermining progress on the equality front. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

The author examines the founding documents of American religious freedom, namely the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Topics discussed include an analysis of the First Amendment's guarantee of religious freedom, the U.S. Congressional record of the debates on the religion clauses, the teachings of the founding generation on religious freedom, and state constitutional provisions on religious freedom that were created from 1776 to 1784. more...

While Zubovich commends scholars who have analyzed the mid-century political mobilization of evangelicals, he "offers a corrective" by recovering the story of ecumenical Protestants, demonstrating how constitutive they were to postwar American liberalism (p. 12). Such topical breadth and extensive archival work firmly substantiate the primary argument - beyond dispute, Zubovich has recentered ecumenical Protestantism in mid-century liberal politics. Whatever its essence, Protestant globalism receives credit for "birth[ing]" a number of vital mid-century concepts and movements, including the "new doctrine of human rights" (p. 7). [Extracted from the article] more...

In 2019, a pastor of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, a “Pastafarian,” raised concerns about the entanglement of Alaskan local government and religion. His commentary highlighted the need to take a fresh look at Alaska’s establishment clause jurisprudence. While Hunt v. Kenai Peninsula Borough addressed legislative prayer, further questions remain open about the limits of public spending on religious institutions, the need to honor Alaska’s religious diversity, and the role of religion in everyday Alaskan government. While the Alaska jurisprudence has not changed much since the 1980s, the Pastafarians have demonstrated that establishment clause debates are alive and well. Therefore, Alaska may look to early constitutional debates in other states, like Massachusetts and Virginia, to evaluate its policy choices, balancing the esteemed place of religion in Alaskan society and the deep-seated belief in separation of church and state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

The International Religious Freedom Act, passed by Congress in 1998, set international religious freedom promotion (IRF) as a core objective of American foreign policy. Although formally empowering the president to enact punitive sanctions in instances of extreme religious repression, IRF is primarily a soft power instrument, with the expressed intent to persuade rather than coerce states into greater respect for religious freedom. Nearly a quarter century since its enactment, however, religious discrimination has markedly increased worldwide. This paper therefore seeks to quantitatively evaluate the extent to which American soft power, measured via levels of popular approval for the United States in countries surveyed by various polling agencies from 2002 to 2014, has correlated with shifts in governmental religious discrimination (GRD) since 1998. We find that not only do higher levels of approval of the United States correlate with greater increases in GRD, but this effect is particularly robust in more democratic states, in which American soft power should presumably have a greater influence. These findings should be deeply troubling for IRF advocates, empirically validating prevalent concerns regarding the efficacy, priority, and viability of IRF as a foreign policy instrument. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

This study was designed to explore preservice elementary teacher understanding of The First Amendment and religious freedom in public schools in the Southeastern United States. Participants of the study were 160 preservice elementary teachers enrolled in the teacher preparation programs of 3 universities across 2 states located in a region commonly referred to as the "Bible Belt." Data was collected via an electronic survey containing questions and scenarios requiring short responses, and field notes were recorded during class discussions of the topic. Results indicated that preservice elementary teachers possessed some basic understanding of The First Amendment and that public educators are acting government agents of the state. Yet, they demonstrated a dearth in understanding of their professional duties in accordance with this law, specifically with regards to the Establishment Clause. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

This Article details the importance of religious freedom in the United States and its armed forces, as well as the unfortunate history of non-accommodation that has plagued the Department of Defense (DoD) until recent years. It reviews the jurisprudence surrounding military service member free-exercise claims before and after the landmark Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) of 1993, and it analyzes how courts have addressed those claims within the military. It proposes an analysis for handing religious accommodation claims under RFRA in the military, and examines a series of hypotheticals that demonstrate the issues the DoD must confront and accommodate if it is to value its members' religious liberty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

The article offers an overview of recent United States court cases on the topic of religious family agreements, focusing in particular on cases seeking to enforce mahr provisions, provisions of ketubahs , and religious upbringing agreements. Overall, the recent cases display the tensions created by an intersection of separate concerns: interpretive, doctrinal, and constitutional. The cases ultimately display a cautious approach, including a general reluctance to enforce provisions where doing so might interfere with religious freedom or override the financial rights of vulnerable parties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

Recent cases and political movements have severely limited reproductive healthcare access for many across the United States. Religious freedom has been the purported reason for these intrusions into bodily autonomy. In this article, I show how the range of ways in which religious exemptions are growing and impinging on the legal rights of those seeking reproductive healthcare, and especially abortion care. I argue that while cases like Hobby Lobby undermine the original intent of religious freedom laws, much of the political rhetoric remains the same. The polarization between religion and sex and gender-related rights--another iteration of culture war politics--causes the growth in these exemptions. I recommend several policy reforms that can align religious freedom laws to their original intent and warn legal activists against proactive litigation in the era of Trumpappointed judges. Importantly, I present a novel survey of state-level religious freedom statutes and offer a roadmap for legislators to protect access to reproductive healthcare in their states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

This article argues that the Supreme Court should not require a religious exemption from vaccine mandates. For children, who cannot yet make autonomous religious decision, religious exemptions would allow parents to make a choice that puts the child at risk and makes the shared environment of the school unsafe — risking other people's children. For adults, there are still good reasons not to require a religious exemption, since vaccines mandates are adopted for public health reasons, not to target religion, are an area where free riding is a real risk, no religion actually prohibits vaccinating under a mandate, and policing religious exemptions is very difficult. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

The United States is, in many ways, built on promises of religious freedom. For better or worse, these principles have carried the country through centuries. Each generation of Americans must challenge, modify, and contend with the reality of religious freedom in a secular state. This generation is no different. In the past few decades, the population of American Muslims has exploded, forcing this country to reckon with its commitment to religious freedom, especially as it pertains to Islam. Most recently, the sanctions against the Islamic Republic of Iran have prohibited American Shi'ah Muslims from paying a twenty percent religious tax allocated for charitable projects worldwide. It is a tricky situation--on the one hand, there is the long-standing slogan of religious freedom in American ethos while on the other hand, there is a perceived question of national security surrounding Iran and the threat some believe it poses. However, given how these concerns impose on the ability of Shi'ah Muslims to pay their religious taxes and dues, one must ask: do sanctions on Iran that prohibit required charitable giving violate the protections for free exercise laid out in the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) of 1993? This Note argues that they do and that this violation is intolerable. The sanctions substantially burden the ability of Shi'ah Muslims to pay this religious tax (known as khums). The government's actions do not further any compelling interest and are too broad. Where the government should use a scalpel, it has gone in with a hatchet at the expense of the religious liberty of American citizens. This Note discusses the religious obligation of Shi'ah Muslims, its relation to the RFRA protections, and counterarguments. Centuries after the founding of this nation, civil liberties and national security are once again colliding; if the commitments of America are to mean anything at all, civil liberties deserve preservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

The article addresses the conflict between religious liberties and same-sex marriage in the U.S., the current state of the law, and Supreme Court cases that could have resolved the conflict.

Protections for LGBTQIA+ Americans have greatly expanded since the U.S. Supreme Court recognized marriage equality in Obergefell v. Hodges, but the debate about whether business owners can refuse to serve LGBTQIA+ couples on religious grounds has grown more bitterly divided. The free exercise of religion is a fundamental constitutional right, and it is strongly protected at both the federal and state levels. At the same time, LGBTQIA+ couples are protected from receiving unequal treatment in public places under state antidiscrimination laws. The clash between religion and LGBTQIA+ rights has culminated in a line of cases that present difficult questions for courts concerning the balance between these competing interests. This Note discusses the battle being waged between liberty and equality in these cases and argues that the current legal doctrine exacerbates this inherent conflict. Ultimately, this Note proposes a more streamlined test that state courts can utilize when balancing business owners' religious liberty interests against the state's interests in ensuring equality for LGBTQIA+ Americans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

Emergencies are exceptions to the rule. Laws that respond to emergencies can create exceptions to rules that protect human rights. In long lasting emergencies, these exceptions can become the rule, diluting human rights and eroding the rule of law. In the United States, the COVID-19 pandemic prompted states to change rules governing commercial and personal activities to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Many governors' executive orders were challenged as violations of the constitutionally protected rights of those affected. Judges are deciding whether emergencies can justify more restrictions than would be permitted in normal circumstances and whether some rights deserve more protection than others, even in an emergency. This article analyzes ongoing litigation involving emergency restrictions on religious freedom and access to reproductive health services. These cases suggest that some judges are altering the standards of judicial review of the state's emergency powers in ways that could permanently strengthen some rights and dilute others in normal circumstances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

The policy innovation literature does not mention any systemic analysis of sexual freedom laws. Sexual freedom, since the sexual revolution of the 1960s, has been increasing over the past few decades in the United States at the state level and hence is an appropriate area to study in terms of innovativeness. Data collected from 1960 to 2010 show that variables such as Ideology, Income, Religious and Racial fractionalization are important for sexual freedom innovation. In this article, I also innovate in how I calculate the sexual freedom innovativeness score that was necessitated because of the way sexual freedom laws were coded. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

Delivered as the Dignity in Law Symposium keynote address, this essay surveys uses of "dignity" in U.S. constitutional law, with a focus on conflicts between the dignities attached to citizenship and religious conscience. Parts I and II discuss dignity as state sovereignty and hierarchical status. Part III examines the collision of dignities in the Masterpiece Cakeshop decision. Part IV argues that attention to the public or private nature of the site where religious accommodation is demanded clarifies when accommodation is appropriate, using a house of worship and a government office as illustrations. Part V lists other sites of accommodation and briefly discusses how one might use the public/private distinction despite its socially constructed character. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

The article focuses on the decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for Fifth Circuit in the case United States v. Varner wherein the court held tha federal judges have power to compel the use of preferred pronouns in court. It mentions constitutional avoidance, its holding averted constitutional problems involving the free exercise of religion and freedom of speech. It also mentions fifteen-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to a child pornography charge. more...

The article focuses on developments in the law of religious exemptions to contraceptive mandates tracking the Supreme Court's increasingly narrow approach to a third-party harm principle. It mentions harm principle survived to some extent even in a post-Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) and Court has evolved and its zeal for religious liberty as a particularly favored right has grown. It also mentions contraceptives and other healthcare-related harms. more...

The article focuses on university judicial processes, their benefits, and their consequences and authority in developing these alternative justice systems through Title IX of the Civil Rights Act of 1972. It mentions judicial system's history with higher education and outlined the arguments for university autonomy from the judicial system. It also mentions policies religious freedom and separation of church and state were priorities in early American law. more...

The article focuses on analogical approach through the lens of the COVID-19 free exercise cases, in which courts have struggled to draw consistent comparisons between religious and secular institutions when evaluating First Amendment claims. It mentions scrutinizing the analogical approach in more detail and arguing that it invites overbroad discretion and judicial overreach. It also mentions constitutional guarantees of the First Amendment when judges engage in free exercise cases. more...

This study is based on an analysis of survey data from a national sample of K-12 public schools teachers (N = 5,237). The purpose of this article is to examine teachers' beliefs about nationalism and how it correlates to teachers' beliefs about religious liberty, and to what extent beliefs about nationalism are stronger than beliefs about religious liberty. To this end, we use regression analysis of survey data. This research is significant because it adds to the small but growing literature about teachers' beliefs about nationalism in the U.S. and how this impacts attitudes and practices in schools, especially toward immigrant students and more broadly about teaching controversial, political issues. Implications for teacher education are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

Religious worship is fundamentally rooted in physical and intimate interactions. For instance, the Bible calls on Christian congregations to physically gather, receive the Lord's Supper, sing praises, and confess their sins directly before ordained ministers. However, as the highly contagious and airborne COVID-19 disease relentlessly swept across the nation, religious establishments balanced fundamental religious traditions with the inherent dangers of carrying out such traditions. Inevitably, the free exercise of religion faces an unprecedented challenge as governors continue to enact executive orders limiting in-person religious worship gatherings. The jurisprudence thus far has shown alarming inconsistency in the protection of free exercise of religion, and this Note calls on the U.S. Supreme Court to provide clearer guidance for lower courts. Importantly, this Note argues that freedoms explicitly enumerated in the Bill of Rights nevertheless deserve the highest level of protection when infringed or burdened. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...

Meaningful access to sacred sites is among the most important principles to the religious exercise of Indigenous peoples, yet tribes have been repeatedly thwarted by the federal government in their efforts to vindicate this practice of their religion. The colonial, state, and federal governments of this Nation have been desecrating and destroying Native American sacred sites since before the Republic was formed. Unfortunately, the callous destruction of Indigenous sacred sites is not just a troubling relic of the past. Rather, the threat to sacred sites and cultural resources continues today in the form of spoliation from development, as well as in the significant barriers to meaningful access Indigenous peoples face. Scholars concerned about government failure to protect Indigenous sacred sites on government property have generally agreed that the problem stems from the unique nature of Indigenous spiritual traditions as being too distinct from non-Indigenous religious traditions familiar to courts and legislators, and therefore eluding protection afforded to other traditions. By contrast, this Article approaches the problem from an entirely different angle: we focus instead on the similarities between government coercion with respect to Indigenous religious exercise and other non-Indigenous religious practices. We illustrate how the debate about sacred sites unwittingly partakes in longstanding philosophical debates about the nature of coercion itself — a phenomenon that has previously gone unnoticed by scholars. This Article argues that whether or not one formally labels the government’s actions as “coercive,” the important question is whether the government is bringing to bear its sovereign power in a way that inhibits the important ideal of religious voluntarism — the ability of individuals to voluntarily practice their religious exercise consistent with their own free self-development. Indeed, this is precisely the sort of question courts ask when evaluating government burdens on non-Indigenous religious exercise. The failure to ask this same question about voluntarism for Indigenous religious practices has created a double standard, wherein the law recognizes a much more expansive notion of coercion for contexts impacting non-Indigenous religious practices, and a much narrower conception of coercion when it comes to Indigenous sacred sites. This egregious double standard in the law ought to be revisited. Doing so would have two important implications. First, when government interference with religious voluntarism is viewed clearly, tribal members and Indigenous practitioners should be able to prove a prima facie case under statutes like the Religious Freedom Restoration Act much more easily. Second, this Article makes the novel claim that clearer understanding of the coercive control government exercises over sacred sites should animate a strong obligation under the government’s trust responsibility and plenary power doctrine to provide more — rather than less — robust protection of Indigenous sacred sites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] more...