The second edition of Religious Liberty in a Pluralistic Society offers the same structure and thorough coverage of the law of religious liberty as the first edition, along with a new conceptual framework for approaching the religious liberty jurisprudence of the Supreme Court. The first four chapters offer a history of law and religion in the United States that extends from the framing of the Constitution to the early 1920s. Chapters Six through Thirteen examine the statute and case law governing religious liberty in a variety of settings and areas of law, including education, the workplace, tax, the courtroom, property, and the corporate boardroom. The few pronouncements of the United States Supreme Court in each of these areas serve as the anchors for thorough examination of the law of religious liberty in the state and lower federal courts.

Ariens and Destro have reorganized Chapter Five, which examines the Supreme Court's efforts to craft a constitutional law of religious liberty since the 1940s. The new conceptual framework is based on the language and structure of the First Amendment, and is designed to help the reader understand and apply the rules the Court has developed in this important area of constitutional law. New in the notes to Chapter Five are references to comparative and international materials. The materials are updated through 2001, and a number of cases are more tightly edited than in the first edition. A revised teacher's manual with sample course outlines and problems will be available.