Why the Religious Right Is Wrong: About Separation of Church & State
A journalist's account of how the religious right is using the political arena to wage war against the governing principle of separation of church and state to promote their ultraconservative agenda. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.
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Is the separation of church and state a "myth"? Was the United States founded as a "Christian nation"?If you believe the propaganda of the Religious Right, then the answer to both questions is an emphatic yes. To believe the propaganda, however, you must be ignorant of the facts of U.S. history and constitutional law.In Why the Religious Right Is Wrong about Separation of Church and State, award-winning Journalist Rob Boston lambastes the zealots of the Religious Right for spreading misinformation about the constitutional principle of the separation of church and state. He reveals how a band of ultraconservative religious groups with a political agenda - led primarily by televangelist Pat Robertson - is conducting a systematic war against separation of church and state. The tactics of these groups are designed to exploit unfounded fears and turn the American people against the separation 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.Boston concludes by giving readers strategies for defending the separation principle from attacks by the Religious Right. The author insists that separation of church and state is the best policy for both institutions and asserts that with out it the United States cannot remain a free nation.
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