Download or read book Why the Religious Right Is Wrong About Separation of Church and State written by Robert Boston and published by Prometheus Books. This book was released on 2010-09-30 with total page 281 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Award-winning journalist Robert Boston lambastes the zealots of the Religious Right for spreading misinformation about the constitutional principle of the separation of church and state. Boston reveals how a band of ultraconservative religious groups with a political agenda - led primarily by televangelist Pat Robertson - is conducting a systematic war aginst the separation of church and state. The tactics of these groups are designed to exploit unfounded fears and turn the American people against the separationist principle. They will not rest, Boston says, until the United States has become a theocracy. To expose the Religious Right's blatant distortions of U.S. history and correct its skewed analysis of legal rulings, Boston objectively reviews the evolution of church/state relations in the United States and looks at how the separation principle has been applied by the courts. He also examines efforts by sectarian groups to win government support for their schools, the school prayer issue, the history of the free exercise of religion, and the controversial role of religion in the public square. Published in cooperation with Americans United for the Separation of Church and State

Download or read book Why the Religious Right Is Wrong about Separation of Church and State written by R. Boston and published by Turtleback Books. This book was released on 2003-02-01 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Why the Christian Right Is Wrong written by Robin Meyers and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2007-06-15 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "I join the ranks of those who are angry, because I have watched as the faith I love has been taken over by fundamentalists who claim to speak for Jesus but whose actions are anything but Christian." —Robin Meyers, from his "Speech Heard Round the World" Millions of Americans are outraged at the Bush administration's domestic and foreign policies and even angrier that the nation's religious conservatives have touted these policies as representative of moral values. Why the Christian Right Is Wrong is a rousing manifesto that will ignite the collective conscience of all whose faith and values have been misrepresented by the Christian Right. Praise for Why the Christian Right Is Wrong: "In the pulpit, Robin Meyers is the new generation's Harry Emerson Fosdick, George Buttrick, and Martin Luther King. In these pages, you will find a stirring message for our times, from a man who believes that God's love is universal, that the great Jewish prophets are as relevant now as in ancient times, and that the Jesus who drove the money changers from the Temple may yet inspire us to embrace justice and compassion as the soul of democracy. This is not a book for narrow sectarian minds; read it, and you will want to change the world." —Bill Moyers "In this book, a powerful and authentic religious voice from America's heartland holds up a mirror to the Bush administration and its religious allies. The result is a vision of Orwellian proportions in which values are inverted and violence, hatred, and bigotry are blessed by one known as 'The Prince of Peace,' who called us to love our enemies. If you treasure this country and tremble over its present direction, this book is a must-read!" —John Shelby Spong author, The Sins of Scripture: Exposing the Bible's Texts of Hate to Reveal the God of Love "This is a timely warning and a clarion call to the church to recover the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to a great nation to resist the encroachment of the Christian Right and of Christian fascism. Many of us in other parts of the world are praying fervently that these calls will be heeded." —Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Download or read book The Separation of Church and State written by Forrest Church and published by Beacon Press. This book was released on 2011-05-03 with total page 177 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Now in paperback, a primer of essential writings about one of the cornerstones of our democracy by the original authors of the Constitution, edited by preeminant liberal theologian Forrest Church. Americans will never stop debating the question of church-state separation, and such debates invariably lead back to the nation’s beginnings and the founders’ intent. The Separation of Church and State presents a basic collection of the founders’ teachings on this topic. This concise primer gets past the rhetoric that surrounds the current debate, placing the founders’ vivid writings on religious liberty in historical perspective. Edited and with running commentary by Forrest Church, this important collection informs anyone curious about the original blueprint for our country and its government.

Download or read book Separation of Church and State written by Philip HAMBURGER and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2009-06-30 with total page 529 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a powerful challenge to conventional wisdom, Philip Hamburger argues that the separation of church and state has no historical foundation in the First Amendment. The detailed evidence assembled here shows that eighteenth-century Americans almost never invoked this principle. Although Thomas Jefferson and others retrospectively claimed that the First Amendment separated church and state, separation became part of American constitutional law only much later. Hamburger shows that separation became a constitutional freedom largely through fear and prejudice. Jefferson supported separation out of hostility to the Federalist clergy of New England. Nativist Protestants (ranging from nineteenth-century Know Nothings to twentieth-century members of the K.K.K.) adopted the principle of separation to restrict the role of Catholics in public life. Gradually, these Protestants were joined by theologically liberal, anti-Christian secularists, who hoped that separation would limit Christianity and all other distinct religions. Eventually, a wide range of men and women called for separation. Almost all of these Americans feared ecclesiastical authority, particularly that of the Catholic Church, and, in response to their fears, they increasingly perceived religious liberty to require a separation of church from state. American religious liberty was thus redefined and even transformed. In the process, the First Amendment was often used as an instrument of intolerance and discrimination.

Download or read book Please Don t Wish Me a Merry Christmas written by Stephen M. Feldman and published by NYU Press. This book was released on 1998-08 with total page 407 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Nearly all discussions regarding the role of religion in American life build on two dominant assumptions: first, the separation of church and state is a constitutional principle that promotes democracy and equally protects the religious freedom of all Americans, especially religious outgroups; and second, this principle emerges as a uniquely American contribution to political theory. In Please Don't Wish Me a Merry Christmas, Stephen M. Feldman challenges both these assumptions. He argues that the separation of church and state primarily manifests and reinforces Christian domination in American society. Furthermore, Feldman reveals that the separation of church and state did not first arise in America, either at the time of the constitutional framing or later. In challenging the dominant story of the separation of church and state, Please Don't Wish Me a Merry Christmas follows the historical path of two institutions - the Christian church and the state - from the origins of Christianity forward to the present day. Feldman thus focuses on the workings of power in a specific context: he interprets the development of Christian social power vis-a-vis the state and religious minorities, particularly the prototypical religious outgroup, Jews.

Download or read book Bad Religion written by Ross Douthat and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2013-04-16 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Traces the decline of Christianity in America since the 1950s, posing controversial arguments about the role of heresy in the nation's downfall while calling for a revival of traditional Christian practices.

Download or read book Church and State written by Adelbert L. Wilber Jr. and published by WestBow Press. This book was released on 2018-02-28 with total page 159 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Church and State examines the wall of separation Thomas Jefferson spoke of in his letter to the Danbury Baptist Association in 1802 to answer a letter from them written in October 1801. The Danbury Baptists were a religious minority in Connecticut, and they complained that in their state, the religious liberties they enjoyed were not seen as immutable rights, but as privileges granted by the legislatureas favors granted. Jeffersons reply did not address their concerns about problems with state establishment of religiononly of establishment on the national level. The letter contains the phrase wall of separation between church and state, which led to the shorthand for the Establishment Clause that we use today: separation of church and state. The Jeffersonian view has been contentious, to say the least; a great many scholars and politicians have tried to comprehend Jeffersons true meaning, extending his viewpoint in later judicial and legislative decisions. Strong feelings expressed by clergy, statesmen, and politicians have created a strong theistic undertow in Constitutional Law that has seen attacks on Christianity and Judaism increase since the Clinton Administration and culminating into a cacophony of anti-theistic rhetoric under the Obama Administration. With the election of President Trump, we must look back to see the original intent of our founding fathers, take a snapshot of the current state of separation, and peer into the future to see if the balance between politics and religion can be sustained.

Download or read book Taking Liberties written by Robert Boston and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A concise and lucid explanation of what religious freedom is and isn'tncreasingly, conservative religious groups are using religious liberty as a sword to lash out at others. In this forcefully argued defense of the separation of church and state, Robert Boston makes it clear that the religious freedom guaranteed in the First Amendment is an individual right, the right of personal conscience, not a license allowing religious organizations to discriminate against and control others. The book examines the controversy over birth control, same-sex marriage, religion in public schools, the intersection of faith and politics, and the "war on Christmas," among other topics. Boston concludes with a series of recommendations for resolving clashes between religious liberty claims and individual rights."

Download or read book The Religion Clauses written by Erwin Chemerinsky and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2020 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The relationship between the government and religion is deeply divisive. With the recent changes in the composition of the Supreme Court, the First Amendment law concerning religion is likely to change dramatically in the years ahead. The Court can be expected to reject the idea of a wall separating church and state and permit much more religious involvement in government and government support for religion. The Court is also likely to expand the rights of religious people to ignore legal obligations that others have to follow, such laws that require the provision of health care benefits to employees and prohibit businesses from discriminating against people because of their sexual orientation. This book argues for the opposite and the need for separating church and state. After carefully explaining all the major approaches to the meaning of the Constitution's religion clauses, the book argues that the best approaches are for the government to be strictly secular and for there to be no special exemptions for religious people from neutral and general laws that others must obey. The book argues that this separationist approach is most consistent with the concerns of the founders who drafted the Constitution and with the needs of a religiously pluralistic society in the 21st century"--

Download or read book Piety Politics written by Reverend Barry W. Lynn and published by Forum Books. This book was released on 2006-10-03 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Reverend Barry Lynn explains why the Religious Right has it all wrong. In the wake of the 2004 presidential election, the Religious Right insisted that George Bush had been handed a mandate for an ideology-based social agenda, including the passage of a “marriage amendment” to ban same-sex unions, diversion of tax money to religious groups through “faith-based initiatives,” the teaching of creationism in public schools, and restrictions on abortion. Led by an aggressive band of television preachers and extremist radio personalities, the Religious Right set its sights on demolishing the wall of separation between church and state. The Reverend Barry Lynn is a devout Christian, but this propaganda effort disturbs him deeply. He argues that politicians need to stop looking to the Bible to justify their actions and should consult another source instead: the U.S. Constitution. When the Founding Fathers of our great nation created the Constitution, they had seen firsthand the dangers of an injudicious mix of religion and government. They knew what it was like to live under the yoke of state-imposed faith. They drew up a model for the new nation that would allow absolute freedom of religion. They knew that religion, united with the raw power of government, spawns tyranny. Yet the Religious Right now seems distrustful of those principles inherent in the Constitution, viewing the separation of church and state only as a dangerous anti-Christian principle imposed upon our nation. In reality, the separation between church and state has been an important ally to religion: with the state out of the picture, hundreds of religions have grown and prospered. Religion doesn’t need the government’s assistance, any more than it is practical or appropriate for religious doctrine to be fostered in the government or taught in public schools. As an explicitly religious figure speaking out against the Religious Right, Lynn has incurred the wrath of such personalities as Pat Buchanan, Jerry Falwell, and Pat Robertson, who once said Lynn was “lower than a child molester.” Lynn has continuously taken on these radicals of the Religious Right calmly and rationally, using their own statements and religious fervor to prove that when they attack the constitutionally mandated separation, they’re actually attacking freedom of religion. In Piety & Politics, the Reverend Barry Lynn continues the fight—educating Americans about what is at stake, explaining why it is crucial that we maintain the separation of church and state, and galvanizing us to defend the honor of our religious freedom.

Download or read book The Myth of American Religious Freedom written by David Sehat and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2011-01-14 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the battles over religion and politics in America, both liberals and conservatives often appeal to history. Liberals claim that the Founders separated church and state. But for much of American history, David Sehat writes, Protestant Christianity was intimately intertwined with the state. Yet the past was not the Christian utopia that conservatives imagine either. Instead, a Protestant moral establishment prevailed, using government power to punish free thinkers and religious dissidents. In The Myth of American Religious Freedom, Sehat provides an eye-opening history of religion in public life, overturning our most cherished myths. Originally, the First Amendment applied only to the federal government, which had limited authority. The Protestant moral establishment ruled on the state level. Using moral laws to uphold religious power, religious partisans enforced a moral and religious orthodoxy against Catholics, Jews, Mormons, agnostics, and others. Not until 1940 did the U.S. Supreme Court extend the First Amendment to the states. As the Supreme Court began to dismantle the connections between religion and government, Sehat argues, religious conservatives mobilized to maintain their power and began the culture wars of the last fifty years. To trace the rise and fall of this Protestant establishment, Sehat focuses on a series of dissenters--abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison, suffragist Elizabeth Cady Stanton, socialist Eugene V. Debs, and many others. Shattering myths held by both the left and right, David Sehat forces us to rethink some of our most deeply held beliefs. By showing the bad history used on both sides, he denies partisans a safe refuge with the Founders.

Download or read book Separation of Church and State written by Frank Lambert and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Frank Lambert tackles the central claims of the Religious Right "historians" who insist that America was conceived as a "Christian State," that modern-day "liberals" and "secularists" have distorted and/or ignored the place of religion in American history, and that the phrase "the separation of church and state" does not appear in any of the founding documents and is, therefore, a myth created by the Left. He discusses what separates "bad" history from "good" history, and concludes that the self-styled "historians" of the Religious Right create a "useful past" that enlists the nation's founders on behalf of present-day conservative religious and political causes. ¶ Through the use of selective quotations lifted out of context and interpreted through faulty logic, the result is a politicized religious history that says more about the Religious Right than it does about the nation's founders. Lambert believes that the most effective means of critiquing such misuse of history is sound historical investigation that considers all the evidence, not just that which supports an author's biases, and draws reasonable conclusions grounded in historical context. ¶ The result exposes the Religious Right "history" as fabrications and halftruths. In fact, one of the foundational principles of the Constitution is that of separation as the key to safeguarding freedom: separation of powers, separation of federal and state governments, and separation of church and state. Book jacket.

Download or read book Close Encounters With the Religious Right written by Robert Boston and published by Prometheus Books. This book was released on 2011-04-29 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Having spent the last 12 years doggedly tracking the religious right, Boston now offers revealing insights about its message and intentions, including its campaign to do away with separation of church and state, privacy rights, and religious liberty. Photos.

Download or read book God and Government written by Ann E. Weiss and published by . This book was released on 1982 with total page 174 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Analyzes church-state relations, considering situations in which government and religion have supported each other as well as those in which the two are in conflict.

Download or read book Democratic Authority and the Separation of Church and State written by Robert Audi and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2011-06-01 with total page 191 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Democratic states must protect the liberty of citizens and must accommodate both religious liberty and cultural diversity. This democratic imperative is one reason for the increasing secularity of most modern democracies. Religious citizens, however, commonly see a secular state as unfriendly toward religion. This book articulates principles that enable secular governments to protect liberty in a way that judiciously separates church and state and fully respects religious citizens. After presenting a brief account of the relation between religion and ethics, the book shows how ethics can be independent of religion-evidentially autonomous in a way that makes moral knowledge possible for secular citizens--without denying religious sources a moral authority of their own. With this account in view, it portrays a church-state separation that requires governments not only to avoid religious establishment but also to maintain religious neutrality. The book shows how religious neutrality is related to such issues as teaching evolutionary biology in public schools, the legitimacy of vouchers to fund private schooling, and governmental support of "faith-based initiatives." The final chapter shows how the proposed theory of religion and politics incorporates toleration and forgiveness as elements in flourishing democracies. Tolerance and forgiveness are described; their role in democratic citizenship is clarified; and in this light a conception of civic virtue is proposed. Overall, the book advances the theory of liberal democracy, clarifies the relation between religion and ethics, provides distinctive principles governing religion in politics, and provides a theory of toleration for pluralistic societies. It frames institutional principles to guide governmental policy toward religion; it articulates citizenship standards for political conduct by individuals; it examines the case for affirming these two kinds of standards on the basis of what, historically, has been called natural reason; and it defends an account of toleration that enhances the practical application of the ethical framework both in individual nations and in the international realm.

Download or read book What s Wrong with the Christian Right written by Jan G. Linn and published by Universal-Publishers. This book was released on 2004 with total page 188 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Silence may be golden, but not when it comes to the extremes of the Christian Right. That is why Jan Linn wrote his new book, What's Wrong With The Christian Right, just released by BrownWalker Press. As a former college and seminary teacher and author of ten previous books, Linn uses the Christian Right's own words and actions to show the extent to which it is trying to reshape both American politics and Christianity into its own image. The book describes in detail the agenda of the Christian Right, the tactics it employs, and the ways it plays loose with truth. It is also a call to action to everyone disturbed by the power and influence of the Christian Right. With careful documentation, this book exposes the extent to which the Christian Right is influencing American politics, who its political allies are, the ways it is working to re-shape America into its own image, and the hypocrisy it practices in the process. The book also takes issue with the Christian Right's agenda on major issues, and the distorted image its extremism presents of Christianity. What's Wrong With The Christian Right is ultimately a call to all liberal minded people, especially people of faith, to join the effort to offset the Christian Right as the dominant religious voice in America today. Several outstanding leaders in their field have commended the book to a wide reading audience. Dr. Joan Brown Campbell, former General Secretary of the National Council of Churches of Christ, calls the book "a must read." Dr. Albert Pennybacker, founder of the Clergy Leadership Network, describes it as "a book for these times." Dr. Arvid Lundy, retired from Los Alamos National Laboratories and a non-Christian agnostic, describes the book as "a joy to read." James Autry of People for the American Way describes it "a careful, thoughtful, well researched examination of those we call the Christian Right."