This volume looks at headline-grabbing scandals involving American religious figures from the 19th century to the present, showing how the media and society in general reacted to these controversies. Religious Scandals brings together real-life controversies involving men and women of faith, from the media frenzy over the 1811 New York blasphemy case of People v. Ruggles that shaped American law for well over 100 years to the 2008 government raid on the fundamentalist Mormon Yearning for Zion community in Texas. Religious Scandals focuses on two types of subjects: religious figures whose lapses put them at the center of scandals involving sex, money, or crime; and those who scandalized their fellow citizens by acting out according to their own religious beliefs. Together, these stories—some familiar, some little known—offer a fascinating portrait of American religious culture, as well insights into the role of the media in religious scandals, constitutional protections of religious freedom, and the overriding issue of public curiosity versus individual privacy.

This book reviews and describes various public scandals involving religion in US history, with most of those discussed having taken place in recent decades, although some scandals from much earlier are examined as well. The author organizes the volume in two sections. The first deals with "conventional scandals" or violations of sacred and secular custom and law, a category within which she includes adultery, pedophilia, and homosexuality; money, marketing, and management scandals; hoaxes and humbug; and murder and mayhem. The second explores "scandals of conscience" or challenges to secular custom and law and includes chapters on blasphemy and its progeny, religio-political heresy, rituals that rankle, and problematic practices. Also included is a timeline. * Reference & Research Book News *
. . .this work seems best suited to an undergraduate survey course in ethics where the aim is to expose students to an expansive discussion of scandal. * ARBAonline *

Judith M. Buddenbaum is professor emerita in the Department of Journalism and Technical Communication at Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO.