This study represents a snapshot of American public opinion as we approach the bicentennial of the Bill of Rights. It therefore provides an opportunity for reflecting on the importance of the First Amendment in public life, the state of current developments and strains surrounding it, and the challenge to political candidates. Interpreted in the wider national and international context, the survey offers grounds for both optimism and concern. Four themes are salient and worthy of reflection.

After 200 years the Constitutional guarantees of freedom of conscience and provisions for ordered liberty show tremendous resilience and practical relevance for American public life. The survey provides evidence of this resilience and relevance in terms of an easily taken-for-granted aspect of the tolerance noted throughout the findings. In many countries, particularly in the Third World, there is a clear link between strong religious commitments and weak political civility. In many other countries, particularly in the developed world, there is an equally clear link between weak religious commitments and strong political civility. But a pronounced and enduring feature of American society, due largely to the First Amendment, is its combination of relatively strong religious commitments and relatively strong political civility.