When Religious Freedom Harms Children

The United States protects religious freedom in the first words of the Bill of Rights and protects children in every state's criminal code. When a parent's faith leads to refusing a blood transfusion, praying over a diabetic child instead of seeking care, or declining vaccination, the law must decide which commitment yields. Prof. Marci Hamilton, who argued City of Boerne v. Flores before the Supreme Court and is the author of God vs. the Gavel, joins TalksOnLaw to examine where the right to believe ends and the right to act on that belief begins.

Hamilton walks through religious exemptions from vaccination and medical-neglect laws, mature-minor rules that let a fourteen-year-old refuse treatment, the 2008 Texas raid on the FLDS Yearning for Zion Ranch, religious summer camps and conversion therapy, and how federal and state Religious Freedom Restoration Acts are raised as defenses in abuse and neglect cases. The conversation closes with the religious-exemption laws enacted after the Supreme Court's same-sex marriage decision. This interview was recorded while Hamilton held the Paul R. Verkuil Chair at Cardozo; the TalksOnLaw course page includes an update on how the law has developed since.

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Approved for 1 hr of participatory California MCLE credit in the General category at the time of publication. Please visit TalksOnLaw to check whether older courses remain active for MCLE reporting purposes.