You can watch them on our web site, booktv. Org. Booktv recently visited capitol hill to ask members of congress what theyre reading. Heres what oklahoma congressman Steve Russell had to say. I read all kinds of stuff. Im a voracious history reader. Not much onion fiction although there are some. I just finished a fiction book, i should say im not much on fiction. But i did just finish a fiction book by Derek Robinson that was kind of a british antiwar protest on a world war i setting, and it kind of reflects the times. But i have a great interest in world war i. My great grandfather and his brothers were world war i veterans, one of my relatives is buried in france, killed in the first world war. And since were in the 100th anniversary of our entry into that war and our participation in the campaigns, ive been reading quite a bit about that time. Congressman, youre also an author as well. Could you kind of talk about your experience as an author . Well, it is i have a Great Respect fo
Access to religious worship, the rights of religious organizations and so on. And in the early decades of the 20th century, that began to shift as the Supreme Court applied the National Constitutional establishment and free exercise clauses of the First Amendment against the states sort of centralizing debates about religion. Host but if the states had the control, we had it written into our constitution, freedom of religion. Guest we did, indeed. But the First Amendment begins Congress Shall enact no law. So it was addressed only to the national government. Host were there restrictions by different states on religion . Guest oh, yes, there were. Several states had religious establishments. Most states limited the amount of property a religious organization could own. Some taxed religious property. Others banned given groups practices. Im thinking, for example, eventually various states in the southwest banning polygamy, for example. Host so when it came to massachusetts, talk about ma