Religious Exemption Laws and Minority Rights

关于少数群体公民权利的公开辩论引发了这样的问题：个人是否可以基于遵守将违反其宗教信仰的主张而免于遵守不歧视法律。本项目将研究与宗教豁免有关的法律以及美国人对与少数民族权利有关的宗教豁免法的反应。该项目将处理下列问题：（1）与宗教豁免有关的州法和判例法如何以及何时涉及少数群体？(2)个人如何评价与少数群体有关的宗教豁免要求？以及（3）州法和判例法的语言在多大程度上与个人的解释重叠或分歧？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。它将通过产生经验知识，为有关少数群体权利和宗教豁免的立法和政策提供信息，从而促进个人的健康和福祉以及我们美国的民主，从而造福社会。个人是否可以因宗教信仰而免于遵守不歧视法律的问题是一个复杂的问题，既涉及法律的机构，也涉及个人信仰。本项目通过一项混合方法研究来解决这一问题，该研究使用法律的数据的定量和定性分析以及深入访谈的定性分析，以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，该项目将创建和分析一个原始数据库，其中包括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，该项目将对美国四个城市的180名参与者进行深入访谈。在第三阶段，该项目将比较法律的举措与采访数据。该项目的研究成果将为文化社会学、宗教社会学和法律社会学的文献提供信息，重点关注文化图式和围绕宗教豁免和少数群体权利的法律的机构的交叉点。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并被认为值得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来支持。

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.