Divided by God by Noah Feldman

Noah Feldman is a constitutional law scholar and professor. He's on his way to Harvard Law this fall after previously teaching at NYU.

Divided by God seeks to provide the reader with a historical account of and propose an answer to the separation of church and state problem. Feldman does a good job of walking the reader through the history of the First Amendment Freedom of Religion jurisprudence and history.

Most of the book is spent covering the history of the religious freedom jurisprudence. Your basics are covered -like the difference between the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause - as well as a brief philosophical discourse on freedom of conscience in the 18th century. Feldman also spends a lot of time on the history of two groups, the legal secularists and the value evangelicals.

The propose of this book is three-fold:

1) To provide the reader with a history of the issues surrounding the separation of church and state;
2) Show why both the legal secularists and the value evangelicals have incorrect interpretations of the First Amendment and its history;
3) To propose a solution to the current cultural, political, and social problems surrounding the separation of church and state dilemma.

The book was fairly easy to read. Even those without a legal education should find Feldman's arguments, discussions, and historical regurgitation clear and concise as he uses very little "legalese."

In the end, Feldman decides to propose his own solution to the church/state problem. He believes the Lemon test and O'Connor's endorsement test should be replaced with what he calls a more historically accurate test of "no coercion and no money". While I agree that his "coercion and money" prohibition is a better bright line test for the courts, I don't know that I personally want more religion in the public sphere. Nor do I want more politicians deciding and writing legislation based on their personal faith.

Regardless of my personal views, Divided by God is an insightful book and one that more people should read. The more the general population knows about the law and why certain freedoms are in place the better.