Not by Faith Alone: Religion, Law, and Adolescence

232 Pages·2002·0.62 MB·English

by  Roger Levesque

Not by Faith Alone

Not by
Faith Alone
Religion, Law, and Adolescence
Roger J. R. Levesque
a
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS
New York and London
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS
New York and London
© 2002 by New York University
All rights reserved.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Levesque, Roger J. R.
Not by faith alone: religion, law, and adolescence /
Roger J. R. Levesue.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
ISBN 0-8147-5182-2
1. Freedom of religion—United States. 2. Teenagers—Civil rights—
United States. 3. Children’s rights—United States. 4. Teenagers—
Religious life—United States. I. Title.
KF4783 .L476 2002
342.73’0852—dc21 2002009290
New York University Press books are printed on acid-free paper,
and their binding materials are chosen for strength and durability.
Manufactured in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For Bruce D. Sales

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
I Introduction 1
1 Religion and Adolescents in Changing Times 3
II Religiosity’s Role in Adolescent Development 23
2 Adolescents’ Religious Development 25
3 Religiosity’s Potentially Paradoxical Influences 50
III Regulating Adolescents’ Religious
Orientations and Environments 77
4 Shifts in the Regulation of Religion 79
5 Regulating Adolescents’ Religious Environments 114
IV Conclusion 157
6 Not by Faith Alone 159
References 193
Index 217
About the Author 221
vii

Acknowledgments
Editors at New York University Press obviously have done
much to shepherd the development of this text. I am, though, especially
grateful for Jennifer Hammer’s careful editing and suggestions for revi-
sions. I also am very appreciative of the manner in which she swiftly re-
sponded to my initial book proposal and found reviewers who provided
insightful comments and wise counsel. I was very pleased to see that all
took the manuscript on its own terms and helped develop the arguments
I had proposed, rather than asking that I write a book that addressed is-
sues that, although important, were not central to what I was trying to
do: examine our understanding of the role of religion in adolescent de-
velopment and fashion appropriate legal responses that respect adoles-
cents and broader societal (including religious) concerns.
The Psychology, Policy, and Law Program at the University of Arizona
also deserves special acknowledgment. The intellectual environment fos-
tered by Bruce Sales has done much to free me, in terms of both time and
spirit, to write this text. Engaging students in the psychology program
and in the law school, most particularly Tracey Geer, Cordelia Guggen-
heim, Scotia Hicks, Shannon Locke, and Sean Sullivan, have made teach-
ing so rewarding and appropriately challenging that I found it easy to
share and develop many of the ideas presented in this text, even though
what we discussed related less to religious issues than to the legal system’s
role in each of our lives.
My family also deserves special acknowledgment. Helen, my wife and
my constant source of support and inspiration, deserves much more than
I can ever offer. Although I can never praise her enough, I find great com-
fort in knowing that she knows and warms my deepest sentiments and
that her place in my life makes me a much better person (and scholar)
than I ever could have hoped. Our three sons, Thomas, Henry, and Marc,
all remind me of the best reasons we have been placed on Earth and why
ix