It's a serendipitous story, but I represented Boerne, Texas, before the Supreme Court challenging the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, or RFRA. We won in 1997, and I was led on a journey into the underside of religion, because all the groups that lobby against religion sought me out. They earnestly and generously educated me about the facts of religiously motivated illegal behavior. At first, I was just appalled. Children were dying in faith-healing homes? We don't regulate summer camps or day care centers if they are religious? Prisoners demand what in prison?! I started a file of “Religion Misbehaving,” which turned into multiple files. Then I knew that I had an obligation to share what I had learned with the public, which is why I wrote God vs. the Gavel: Religion and the Rule of Law a decade ago.

Ten years later, I am no longer shocked at the unacceptable behavior of too many believers, but I am even more determined that Americans learn about the dangers inherent in the religious liberty regime that was initiated in 1993 with the RFRA. The Framers called too much liberty “licentiousness.” I simply call it extreme.