| Description |
viii, 406 pages ; 25 cm |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages 369-394) and index. |
| Summary |
The founders of the United States overcame religious intolerance in favor of a constitutional order dedicated to fair treatment for people's deeply held conscientious beliefs. This respect for religious difference, scholar Nussbaum writes, formed our democracy. Yet today there are signs that this legacy is misunderstood. The prominence of a particular type of Christianity in our public life suggests the unequal worth of citizens who hold different religious beliefs, or no beliefs. Others, meanwhile, seek to curtail the influence of religion in public life in a way that is itself unbalanced and unfair. Such partisan efforts, Nussbaum argues, violate the spirit of our Constitution. This is a historical and conceptual study of the American tradition of religious freedom. Weaving together political history, philosophical ideas, and key constitutional cases, it is a chronicle of an ideal of equality that has always been central to our history but is now in danger.--From publisher description. |
| Contents |
1. Introduction : A tradition under threat -- 2. Living together : the roots of respect -- 3. Proclaiming equality : religion in the new nation -- 4. The struggle over accommodation -- 5. Fearing strangers -- 6. The establishment clause : school prayer, public displays -- 7. Aid to sectarian schools : the search for fairness -- 8. Contemporary controversies : the pledge, evolution, imagination, gay marriage, fear of Muslims -- 9. Conclusion : Toward an "overlapping consensus"? -- Acknowledgments -- Notes -- Index -- Index of cases. |
| Subject |
Freedom of religion -- United States.
|
| ISBN |
9780465051649 |
|
0465051642 |
|
