Were all religious institutions and individuals always beneficial to the public, this book would not be needed. The rule would be plain: religious liberty is absolute. Religious entities would not need to be deterred from criminal or tortious behavior. The purpose of this book is to alert the public to extreme demands for religious liberty, which threaten many in the United States, and our society as a whole.

The logistics of the landmark Boerne v. Flores case, discussed in Chapter 8, brought me into contact with the many groups that lobby against damaging religious conduct, such as the American Academy of Pediatrics, Children's Healthcare Is a Legal Duty (CHILD), district attorneys, and state regulatory agencies, among many others. Getting to know them educated me in two ways. First, I learned that my original theory of free exercise that would have excused religious entities from the vast majority of laws was patently absurd. It was a product of the ivory tower – a theory based on ignorance of religious conduct. I came to recognize that I (like many Americans) was a Pollyanna when it came to religion.