Letter: Religious Liberty Law Clinic

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Re "At Stanford, Clinical Training for Defense of Religious Liberty" (news article, Jan. 22): A new clinic at Stanford Law School is enlisting students to oppose restrictions on the free expression of religion, like building mosques or religious expression at work. Yet the Religious Liberty Clinic has amputated religious liberty's meaning, suggesting that protecting free exercise is "the other side" from preventing government establishment, embracing the culture wars' canard that freedom of religion somehow fights freedom from religion in the First Amendment.

Eighteenth-century evangelicals who played a crucial role in religious freedom's development insisted that government interference impaired free exercise, their "free will" offering of belief. Virginia evangelicals warned that even government support "will terminate in who shall preach, when they shall preach, where they shall preach, and what they shall preach."

The clinic should rethink its hobbled understanding. As supporters of the clinic note, religious expression should be "free from government intrusion." This includes government-led prayers and endorsement of religion. A vibrant public square for religious discussion is best promoted by keeping government out.

JOHN RAGOSTA
Clinton, N.Y., Jan. 23, 2013

The writer, an assistant visiting professor of history at Hamilton College, is the author of the forthcoming book "Religious Freedom: Jefferson's Legacy, America's Creed."

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