Faith, politics, and American culture. Review essay

Review of Sam Harris, "Letter to a Christian Nation"; Barry W. Lynn, "Piety and Politics: The Right-Wing Assault on Religious Freedom"; John Danforth, "Faith and Politics: How the "Moral Values" Debate Divides America and How to Move Forward Together"; Jonatha...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of American studies 2008-04, Vol.42 (1), p.133-139
Main Author: Salvatore, Nick
Format: Article
Language:English
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Review of Sam Harris, "Letter to a Christian Nation"; Barry W. Lynn, "Piety and Politics: The Right-Wing Assault on Religious Freedom"; John Danforth, "Faith and Politics: How the "Moral Values" Debate Divides America and How to Move Forward Together"; Jonathan Miller, "The Compassionate Community: Ten Values to Unite America"; Lauren Sandler, "Righteous: Dispatches from the Evangelical Youth Movement"; and Jeffrey L. Sheler, "Believers: A Journey into Evangelical America". Dismissive of Harris's vehement secularism, the review focuses on the thoughtful assessments of the role of the Christian right in American civic life of the other authors, two of whom are attorneys and ordained Protestant ministers, two are elected politicians and the other an observant Jew. All strongly support the maintenance of a clear line between church and state and together demonstrate that the issue of religion in America is complicated, and that it is wrong to see the multidimensional evangelical mission as an undifferentiated whole. (Quotes from original text)
ISSN:0021-8758
1469-5154
DOI:10.1017/S0021875807004422