A novel account of the relationship between sincerity, religious freedom, and the secular in the United States.
 
“Sincerely held religious belief” is now a common phrase in discussions of American religious freedom, from opinions handed down by the US Supreme Court to local controversies. The “sincerity test” of religious belief has become a cornerstone of US jurisprudence, framing what counts as legitimate grounds for First Amendment claims in the eyes of the law. In Sincerely Held, Charles McCrary provides an original account of how sincerely held religious belief became the primary standard for determining what legally counts as authentic religion.
 
McCrary skillfully traces the interlocking histories of American sincerity, religion, and secularism starting in the mid-nineteenth century. He analyzes a diverse archive, including Herman Melville’s novel The Confidence-Man, vice-suppressing police, Spiritualist women accused of being fortune-tellers, eclectic conscientious objectors, secularization theorists, Black revolutionaries, and anti-LGBTQ litigants. Across this history, McCrary reveals how sincerity and sincerely held religious belief developed as technologies of secular governance, determining what does and doesn’t entitle a person to receive protections from the state.
 
This fresh analysis of secularism in the United States invites further reflection on the role of sincerity in public life and religious studies scholarship, asking why sincerity has come to matter so much in a supposedly “post-truth” era.
 

"McCrary casts this complex subject in a new light. Readers will gain valuable insights into the politics of religion in America." - Publisher's Weekly

"McCrary argues that the American legal system has impoverished our idea of religion by equating it with 'sincerely held belief.' In so doing, it has stripped religion of its communal elements. . . This is an essential text for understanding the current struggles over religious freedom." - The Christian Century

"Comprehensive, thought-provoking . . . We should take note of McCrary’s call to interrogate this current legal framework and deconstruct, or at the very least, reexamine, our understanding of religious freedom." - Church & State Magazine / Americans United

"A detailed, but entertaining critical introduction to religion and the First Amendment in the United States . . . highly recommended." - Nova Religio

"“Clear and compelling . . . this book is important reading for anyone seeking an understanding of the problems of religious freedom . . . a fascinating contribution to scholarship on secularism in the United States.”" - American Religion

"Such an interesting book. A book that really is hard to characterize. It's about religion and law in the US. It's about the history of the sincerity test. It's about secularism and what it means or doesn't mean to be a secular person in what is supposed to be a secular country." - Straight White American Jesus

"A clever, well-crafted account of American secularism, religion, and sincerity. . . McCrary’s writing is a delight to read (as are his many 'sincere' footnotes), and students and scholars from a range of disciplines will find this book to be a highly engaging text, one that is challenging in the best of ways." - Reading Religion

"A sweeping, fascinating and engaging account of how American secularism created the ‘character of the sincere believer’ and cast ‘sincerely held religious belief’ as constitutive of religion in law and the standard by which certain practices are rejected ‘as not truly religious.’ . . . The book may well become indispensable. . . A rich, engrossing, fresh and enlivening addition to the field.” - Journal for the Academic Study of Religion

"Scholars of church and state likely will find the [history of the sincerity test] compelling, as it works through the details of specific court cases to show how 'the sincere believer is an identity, a protected class whose rights are to be secured and defended.'" - Journal of Church and State

"What does it mean to have a sincerely held religious belief (each word necessitating a separate inquiry) such that it privileges the holder to a special accommodation under the law? Charles McCrary tackles this difficult question (or questions) in his thought-provoking new book . . . He unpacks how the sincerely held belief requirement has been used by secular society to impose limits on what it is willing to accept as authentic religion, even though the whole purpose of the requirement is to avoid civil officials judging the inherent truth or falsity of any religion." - Fides et Historia