Winnifred Sullivan’s, The Impossibility of Religious Freedom is a thought provoking book in which she addresses her involvement and observations of the trial Warner vs. Boca Raton (1999). The trial is about a group of Florida residents who wanted to remove the city’s forcible removal of gravesite memorial arrangements that they had erected for their deceased relatives (Sullivan 2). Sullivan is an academic and a lawyer, hence she is able to portray both sides of the coin from a socialistic viewpoint as well as a legal stance. Moreover, Sullivan’s main argument asserts that the thought of the US constitution is able to protect the right to religious displays under the first amendment or do individuals seek unrequited historical data to substantiate
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Boca Raton case, Jim Green, the lawyer for the plaintiffs asserts that “cemetery is a place where religious expression is to be expected” (Sullivan 34). The plaintiffs all believed they followed customs and traditions followed in their community or so they thought was befitting to their loved ones. In fact, none of the plaintiffs in the case provided validity from any sacred texts, and it was assumed that the memorial arrangements were a matter of personal preference. The witnesses for the plaintiffs were professors of religion who were a rabbi and a priest, whereas Sullivan was the only one with credibility to look into the arguments in the legal context. The Jewish expert, Professor Broyde was also a practicing rabbi and established evidence to sacred scriptures suggesting that grave markers were sacred and graves should not be stepped on or replaced as it is sacred (Sullivan 58). Thus, the testimony from the witnesses of the plaintiffs tried to establish procedures in the sacred texts to define religious nature and graveyard …show more content…
Functional religion refers to “those approaches studying religion that delineate the social functions religion fulfills – what religion does for the individual and social group” (Beamann 193). However, the functional definition poses a problem if implemented in a legal context as if the government was to consider sports or films as a religion, not as a certain aspect then it leaves a thought that should these so-called “religions” receive the similar legal protection to actual religions. Substantive religion refers to defining “what religion is – what qualities and contents are essentially religious” (Beamann 193). The problem with the substantive definition is that courts will have to determine a general basis for all religions to follow, so there will be no hierarchy established between them. The last type of religion that Beamann discusses is lived religion. Lived religion refers to “ideas, gestures, imaginings, all as media of engagement with the world” (Beamann 194). Unlike the other two definitions, lived religion fails to clearly define what religion is. Thus, Sullivan would agree with Beamann’s differing definitions of religion as it makes it impossible to consider religion in a general purpose for everyone to follow if implemented in the legal
Boca Raton case, Jim Green, the lawyer for the plaintiffs asserts that “cemetery is a place where religious expression is to be expected” (Sullivan 34). The plaintiffs all believed they followed customs and traditions followed in their community or so they thought was befitting to their loved ones. In fact, none of the plaintiffs in the case provided validity from any sacred texts, and it was assumed that the memorial arrangements were a matter of personal preference. The witnesses for the plaintiffs were professors of religion who were a rabbi and a priest, whereas Sullivan was the only one with credibility to look into the arguments in the legal context. The Jewish expert, Professor Broyde was also a practicing rabbi and established evidence to sacred scriptures suggesting that grave markers were sacred and graves should not be stepped on or replaced as it is sacred (Sullivan 58). Thus, the testimony from the witnesses of the plaintiffs tried to establish procedures in the sacred texts to define religious nature and graveyard …show more content…
Functional religion refers to “those approaches studying religion that delineate the social functions religion fulfills – what religion does for the individual and social group” (Beamann 193). However, the functional definition poses a problem if implemented in a legal context as if the government was to consider sports or films as a religion, not as a certain aspect then it leaves a thought that should these so-called “religions” receive the similar legal protection to actual religions. Substantive religion refers to defining “what religion is – what qualities and contents are essentially religious” (Beamann 193). The problem with the substantive definition is that courts will have to determine a general basis for all religions to follow, so there will be no hierarchy established between them. The last type of religion that Beamann discusses is lived religion. Lived religion refers to “ideas, gestures, imaginings, all as media of engagement with the world” (Beamann 194). Unlike the other two definitions, lived religion fails to clearly define what religion is. Thus, Sullivan would agree with Beamann’s differing definitions of religion as it makes it impossible to consider religion in a general purpose for everyone to follow if implemented in the legal