In â??The Declineâ??and Fall?â??of Religious Freedom in America,â? Bruce Abramson argues that religious liberty in this country is under attackâ??and that, although the first targets have been Christian employers and business owners, it may be only a matter of time before the religious practices of American Jews, including ritual slaughter and circumcision, come under similarly hostile scrutiny.
There is a great deal to commend in Abramsonâ??s essay. To be sure, criticism of religious liberty itself is not new; legal theorists and philosophers have long debated the degree of religious freedom appropriate for a liberal democracy. But perceptions have undeniably changed, and the scope of the contemporary critique does indeed feel new. For American Jews, responding to this critique may require an approach tailored to the Jewish communityâ??s unique situation as Americaâ??s paradigmatic religious minorityâ??an approach that could well differ in some respects from that taken by Christians.
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