Toxic mix?
Book measures religion and politics in America
God and guns; religion and politics – they go together about as smoothly as drinking and driving; but nonetheless these are indelible facets of American society. The steady stream of sniping and misstatements by the U.S. presidential candidates provides new definition to enduring features of American politics.
The new University of Massachusetts Press book, Religious Liberty in America: The First Amendment in Historical and Contemporary Perspective by Bruce T. Murray, provides a clear explanation of the connection between religion and politics in America.
Murray surveys America’s political and religious landscape from colonial times to the present, focusing especially on current issues such political realignments in recent elections, the “culture wars,” battles over religious symbols in the public square, immigration, faith-based initiatives, and the Supreme Court.
Examining the nexus of religion and politics, Murray takes an in-depth look at civil religion – a value system that binds the nation’s deepest-held principles with transcendent meaning. In this context, Murray analyzes the rhetoric and writings of the nation’s founders, the current president, presidential hopefuls, and even pop culture figures such as Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan. These leaders and artists all mix their religion, politics and art in a uniquely American way, as Murray details.
“Bruce Murray seeks to lay out historically and conceptually the issues behind the two religious liberty clauses in the First Amendment. In doing so, he introduces and traces such significant topics as the development of religious pluralism and its ironic counterpart, civil religion. Nowhere is there such a clear and concise explanation of the issues as Murray offers in this book.”
– Philip Goff, Associate Professor of Religious Studies and Director of the Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture, Indiana University-Purdue University, Indianapolis.
Purchase Religious Liberty in America on Amazon.com or the University of Massachusetts Press Web site.
Find out more about the author here.