Advance Praise:

“Taken together, this outstanding collection of essays is an enlightening, civil and ultimately hopeful dialogue about one of the most urgent public policy questions of our time. Essential reading for every American who cares about religious freedom, equality and the prospects for finding common ground across our deepest differences.”

-Charles C. Haynes, Founding Director, Religious Freedom Center, Freedom Forum Institute

“This superbly edited, richly diverse, and impressively comprehensive volume promises a 360-degree vantage on one of the most complex and polarizing issues of our day - and it delivers. Whether you already know what you think, or are coming fresh to the controversy, you will find these pages to be rich in wisdom and glowing with the spirit and ingenuity of American pluralism.”

-Jonathan Rauch, Brookings Institution

“This big, bold, and bracing book is pulsing with good will and earnest effort to reconcile competing claims of religious freedom and sexual liberty, especially for LGBTQ Parties. Professors Wilson and Eskridge, Jr, have long been national leaders in this reconciliation effort, and deserve high praise for assembling such a vast collection of leading scholars. This will be the go-to book for the next generation.”

-John Witte, Jr., Director, Center for the Study of Law and Religion, Emory University

“Professors Eskridge, Jr., and Wilson have collected an enlightening and engaging collection of views and arguments that covers the full conversation about whether and how 'common ground' between religious freedom and LGBT rights is possible. In this volume, legal scholars, activists, theologians, historians, and public officials explore not only the history, justifications, and implications of religious liberty’s foundational status, but also the contemporary challenges to it.”

-Richard W. Garnett, Paul J. Schierl/Fort Howard Corporation Professor of Law, Notre Dame Law School

Published Reviews:

“[This book] should be required reading for every state lawmaker .”

-Kathie Obradovich, The Des Moines Register

“Activists often seek total victory for their side. Refreshingly, most of the authors in Religious Freedom, LGBT Rights, and the Prospects for the Common Good believe that there is room for compromise.” “Collectively, the chapters make an excellent case that it is possible to better protect LGBT rights without forcing citizens such as Barronelle Stutzman to choose between their professions and their religious convictions. One can only hope that it finds its way into the hands of state legislators throughout the country.”

-Mark David Hall, Professor of Politics, George Fox University

“The book’s editors, William N. Eskridge Jr. and Robin Fretwell Wilson, convened an open dialogue and search for common ground by engaging an impressive group of ecclesiastical leaders, LGBT rights advocates, seminary presidents, theologians, and equality and religious liberty scholars and activists. Their discourse and feedback led to the essays, which examine the possibilities and perceived limits of reconciling differences.”

-Holly Hollman, General Counsel, Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty

“This book provides a comprehensive look at the tensions between equal rights and religious freedom. It examines not only the ongoing legislative and court battles over access to marriage, but further identifies the battles on the horizon over contraception, polygamy, circumcision, end of life decision-making, premarital agreements, divorce provisions about children's religious upbringing, vaccinations, corporal punishment and similar matters rarely included in other works on law, religion, and the family. It is an exceptionally rich and timely collection.”

-June Carbone, Robina Chair in Law, Science, and Technology, University of Minnesota Law School

“In this volume, an all-star cast of contemporary thinkers provide a timely and important conversation on an issue of great complexity and urgency, the intersection of religion, law, and family. This book will be essential reading to understand where we are.”

-Kyle Harper, Senior Vice President and Provost, Professor of Classics and Letters, University of Oklahoma

“The Contested Place of Religion in Family Law is an important and valuable book. Over the course of almost 700 pages, essays from a variety of different perspectives address many different contexts and issues that bring religion, religious liberty, and family law into contact and often conflict. … Scholars of family law and law and religion will benefit from the collection’s comprehensiveness and from excellent scholarship exploring facets of the relationship between religion and family that may at times be unfamiliar. The book is also an invaluable resource for anyone seeking an overview of the connections between religion, religious liberty, and family law, and it provides all readers with deep engagement on specific topics. A book of this length and scope is ambitious, and this collection delivers on its promise.”

-Kathleen Brady, Oxford Review

“The Contested Place dialogue also highlights the need to evaluate harm on both sides of the ledger. This includes consideration of harm that results when religious individuals or organizations are not accommodated. In the pharmaceutical or medical context, for example, lack of accommodations may ultimately result in less providers and less organizations willing to provide care … Lack of religious accommodations in the adoption or foster care context may result in less agencies finding homes for children in need. The family, as a microcosm of our broader society, provides a familiar context in which to evaluate many of these pressing concerns regarding religious accommodations. The Contested Place provides an important discussion highlighting a range of perspectives on these issues, and it will likely serve as a valuable contribution for years to come.”

-Stephanie Barclay, Family Law Quarterly

“A scholarly, thoughtful, and well-written collection of essays from leading thinkers in the field--a must for anyone interested in religious liberty, gay rights laws, or both. Coeditor Douglas Laycock, one of the two or three top religious freedom scholars in the nation, characterizes the essays well in his afterword: they are an ‘oasis of reasoned discourse amid all the conflict,’ and people on all sides of the same-sex marriage debate have much to learn from them.”

-Eugene Volokh, UCLA School of Law

“Governments cannot be neutral in the coming clashes between those whose religious beliefs deem homosexual conduct immoral and those who believe that gay and lesbian people deserve to live openly and safely with the same regard and protections accorded others. The fair-minded authors in this volume identify emerging legal and policy choices as governments negotiate these clashes and in so doing illuminate contrasting visions of liberty and equality embedded in current and potential legal doctrines. Each chapter, and the judicious afterword by Douglas Laycock, deserves close attention by policymakers, advocates for religious communities, advocates for lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender communities, and lovers of liberty anywhere.”

-Martha Minow, Harvard Law School

“These smart and wise essays map and illustrate the main battles lines between two of our most cherished rights--the right to worship the God we fear and the right to marry the one we love. Drawing on the best constitutional, comparative, historical, and social science lore, the authors work hard to define the hard issues, to defuse the false changes, and to discern the best methods for bringing religious liberties and marital rights into greater concordance. Specialists and novices alike will learn much from these pages.”

-John Witte, Jr., Emory University School of Law

“Will the recognition of same-sex marriage create serious burdens on the religious liberty of those who object to such marriages? Can those burdens be avoided by reasonable rules of law? This book offers the first sustained exploration of these important questions and reveals the diversity of views on how to balance these two powerful concerns.”

-Andrew Koppelman, Northwestern University School of Law