Description
The religious right in the United States has been promoting the idea that the "founding fathers" envisioned the country as being founded on Christianity and never intended that a wall between church and state should be built with their words that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." After briefly sketching the history of church-state relations in the country and the wider world, Boston (former director of communications, Americans United for Separation of Church and State) offers a narrative of how the Constitutional Convention came to that wording, debunking right wing assertions that the First Amendment merely prohibited the establishment of one national church. The problem, he asserts, is that separation was blurred by a de facto Protestant establishment prominent in the late 19th century. The results of these historical tensions are then examined as they pertain to the continuing debates over church-state relations. Annotation (c) Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
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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
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