The separation of faith and self : The culture of disbelief -- God as hobby -- From civil religion to civil exclusion -- Political preaching -- The "Christian nation" and other horrors -- The first subject of the first amendment : The separation of church and state -- The accommodation of religion -- Religious autonomy in the welfare state -- In the beginning -- God: a course of study -- The clothes public square : (Dis)believing in faith -- Matters of life and death -- Religious fascism.
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SUMMARY OR ABSTRACT
Text of Note
America, it is often noted, is the most religious nation in the Western world. At the same time, many political leaders and opinionmakers have come to view any religious element in public discourse as a tool of the radical right for reshaping American society. In our sensible zeal to keep religion from dominating our politics, Stephen L. Carter argues, we have constructed political and legal cultures that force the religiously devout to act as if their faith doesn't really matter. This book explains how we can preserve the vital separation of church and state while embracing rather than trivializing the faith of millions of citizens or treating religious believers with disdain. What makes Carter's work so intriguing is that he uses liberal means to arrive at what are often considered conservative ends. Carter explains how preserving a special role for religious communities can strengthen our democracy. The book recovers the long tradition of liberal religious witness (for example, the antislavery, antisegregation, and Vietnam-era antiwar movements), and argues that the problem with the 1992 Republican convention was not the fact of open religious advocacy but the political positions being advocated. A vast array of issues appear in a new light: everything from religion in schools to the Reverend Sun Myung Moon's mass weddings, from abortion to the Branch Davidians.
OTHER EDITION IN ANOTHER MEDIUM
Title
Culture of disbelief.
CORPORATE BODY NAME USED AS SUBJECT
Umschulungswerkstätten für Siedler und Auswanderer, Bitterfeld