Note:
Jeanmarie S. Brock & Harvey G. Brown, Jr., Government Noninvolvement with Religious Institutions, 59 Texas L. Rev. (1981).
 

Abstract:
This Note maintains that preventing an alliance or involvement between government and religion best protects the underlying value of religious liberty. An alliance or involvement between government and religion can take many different forms. It can be an affirmative involvement, such as a government subsidy or regulation of a religious institution, or it can be a passive form of involvement, such as a tax exemption. An alliance can even occur without creating a formal relationship between government and religion. Regardless of the form of involvement, separating religion and government is necessary to prevent government from advancing or inhibiting religion. The Court and commentators have developed the principles of separation, neutrality, “benevolent neutrality,” and anti-enlightenment to avoid an involvement between government and religion, but none of these approaches is always consistent with the underlying value of religious liberty.