The Modern Crusade: An Investigation of the International Conflict Between Church and State

Engraved beneath the feet of Lady Liberty exists a quote that has epitomized the stance on personal religious freedom held by the United States throughout the greater part of its history. 2 A nation born from those escaping religious persecution, the United States has developed into one of the world's most liberal grounds for the freedom of man to make his own decisions concerning his personal beliefs and values. Yet as circumstance has permitted the United States to mature into a country of uninhibited religious freedom, other nations have developed specifically toward their own narrow cultural mores and societal ethics. Each country's laws have grown like vines to shroud the solid stone of that nation's values. As each country has taken a different path towards finding its own constitutional nirvana, a world has evolved in which no two nations share the same viewpoint on religious freedom.