Item Detail
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14045
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2
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0
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English
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Blasphemy and the Law of Religious Liberty in Nineteenth-Century America
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American Quarterly
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December 2000
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52
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682-719
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In America in the 19th-century, the courts hearkened back to English legal reasoning and tradition to punish blasphemers. In the early nineteenth century, blasphemy jurispudence reveals how the courts sought to restrain religious speech and behavior while upholding constitutional protection of religious liberty. With their new bible (Book of Mormon) and rejection of other churches, Mormonism provoked 'fear and loathing' among the Christian churches. Polygamy also presented a challenge to legal authority. The courts drew on blasphemy law in convicting George Reynolds in 1879