Books about religion and the law tend to be highly technical or aimed primarily at religious conservatives. In Faith on Trial: Religion and the Law in the United States, legal scholar and Unitarian Universalist minister Mark J. T. Caggiano argues that concerns about separation of church and state often serve to silence the viewpoints of religious progressives, many of whom exit the conversation in the hope of protecting important social issues from religious infighting. But it is impossible to win a debate that you never join, and as Caggiano writes, it is paramount in these times that “religious liberals and progressives cultivate and refine an ability to articulate the need for moral changes within the political system. That goal will require an understanding of the law as well as a moral vision for the world.”

Complete with historical context, legal analysis, and specific examples of cases and statutes, Faith on Trial is an invitation to religious progressives and moderates to help put social progress and inclusion at the center of the national conversation about religion and the law.

Mark J. T. Caggiano currently serves as minister at First Church in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. A former lawyer, he is a graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Divinity School and received his Juris Doctor from Boston College Law School. He is also an adjunct faculty member at Boston College Law School, teaching First Amendment law concerning matters of religious rights and the separation of church and state.

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