Religious Exemption Laws and Minority Rights

关于少数民族公民权利的公开辩论引发了这样的问题：个人是否可以以遵守不歧视法律会违反其宗教信仰为理由而免于遵守这些法律？这个项目将研究与宗教豁免有关的法律，以及美国人对涉及少数群体权利的宗教豁免法律的反应。该项目将解决以下问题：(1)与宗教豁免相关的州法和判例法如何以及何时涉及少数群体？(2)个人如何评估与少数群体有关的宗教豁免要求？(3)州法和判例法的语言在多大程度上与个人解释重叠或分歧？该项目将促进对公众舆论与州和联邦法律之间关系的科学理解。它将产生经验知识，为与少数群体权利和宗教豁免有关的立法和政策提供信息，从而有利于社会，从而促进个人的健康和福祉以及我们美国的民主。个人是否可以因宗教信仰而免于遵守不歧视法的问题是一个复杂的问题，既涉及法律制度，也涉及个人信仰。本项目通过混合方法研究解决了这一问题，该研究使用法律数据的定量和定性分析以及深度访谈的定性分析来了解机构和个人层面的文化解释过程。在该项目的第一阶段，该项目将创建并分析一个原始数据库，其中包含21年来所有与宗教豁免有关的美国法院案件和州法律。在第二阶段，该项目将对美国4个城市的180名参与者进行深度访谈并进行分析。在第三阶段，该项目将比较法律举措和访谈数据。该项目的研究结果将为文化社会学、宗教社会学和法律社会学的文献提供信息，重点是围绕宗教豁免和少数群体权利的文化模式和法律制度的交叉。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Public debates over the civil rights of minorities have evoked questions about whether individuals may be exempt from adhering to nondiscrimination laws based on the claim that to adhere would violate their religious beliefs. This project will study the laws related to religious exemption and Americans' reactions to religious exemption laws related to minority rights. The project will address the following questions: (1) How and when do state and case laws related to religious exemption implicate minorities? (2) How do individuals evaluate religious exemption claims as they relate to minorities? and (3) To what extent does the language of state and case laws overlap or diverge with individual interpretations? The project will advance scientific understanding about the relationship between public opinion and state and federal laws. It will benefit society by generating empirical knowledge that can inform legislation and policies related to minority rights and religious exemption, thus contributing to health and well-being of individuals and our democracy in the United States. The issue of whether individuals may be exempt from adhering to nondiscrimination laws owing to religious beliefs is a complex question involving legal institutions as well as individual beliefs. This project addresses this issue with a mixed-methods study that uses quantitative and qualitative analysis of legal data and qualitative analysis of in-depth interviews to understand processes of cultural interpretations at both the institutional and individual level. In Phase 1 of the project, the project will create and analyze an original database of all U.S. court cases and state laws related to religious exemption over a 21-year period. In Phase 2, the project will conduct and analyze in-depth interviews with 180 participants in four U.S. cities. In Phase 3, the project will compare legal initiatives with interview data. Findings from the project will inform the literature in cultural sociology, the sociology of religion and the sociology of law, with focus on the intersection of cultural schemas and legal institutions surrounding religious exemption and minority rights.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.