The First Liberty: America's Foundation in Religious Freedom, Expanded and UpdatedGeorgetown University Press, 07.03.2003 - 296 Seiten At a time when the concept of religion-based politics has taken on new and sometimes ominous tones—even within the United States—it is not only right, but also urgently necessary that William Lee Miller revisit his profound exploration of the place of religious liberty and church and state in America. For this revised edition of The First Liberty, Miller has written a pointed new introduction, discussing how religious liberty has taken on deeper dimensions in a post-9/11 world. With new material on recent Supreme Court cases involving church-state relations and a new concluding chapter on America's religious and political landscape, this volume is an eloquent and thorough interpretation of how religious faith and political freedom have blended and fused to form part of our collective history-and most importantly, how each concept must respect the boundaries of the other. Though many claim the United States to be a "Christian Nation," Miller provides a fascinatingly vivid account of the philosophical skirmishes and political machinations that led to the "wall of separation" between church and state. That famous phrase is Jefferson's, though it does not appear in the Declaration of Independence nor in the Constitution. But Miller follows this seminal idea from three great standard-bearers of religious liberty: Jefferson, Madison, and Roger Williams. Jefferson, who wrote the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, the precursor of the First Amendment of the Constitution; James Madison, who was politically responsible for Virginia's acceptance of religious liberty and who, a few years later, helped draft the Bill of Rights; and the even earlier figure, the radical dissenter Roger Williams, who propounded the idea of religious freedom not as a rational secularist but out of a deeply held spiritual faith. Miller re-creates the fierce and vibrant debate among the founding fathers over the means of establishing public virtue in the absence of established religion—a debate that still reverberates in today's passionate arguments about civil rights, school prayer, abortion, Christmas crèches, conscientious objection during warfare—and demonstrates how the right to hold any religious belief has dynamically shaped American political life. |
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... truth , however , is that there was no American hatred of Islam either before or after the attacks . Before the attacks , " America , " truth be told , did not have much of an attitude toward Islam one way or the other ; after the ...
... truth it is the whole object of the present controversy , " Jefferson had written to a friend , with his charac- teristic moral sweep , " for should a bad government be instituted for us , in future it had been as well to have accepted ...
... truth . The fifth of these articles is particularly intriguing . The South Car- olina constitution - makers went on to say , " And that every inhabitant of this State , when called to make an appeal to God as a witness to truth , shall ...
... truth , by engaging them in quarrels and animosities , to the hatred of the professors , and that profession which otherwise they might be brought to assent to . " Finally , with the path of religious truth thus awkwardly cleared , the ...
... truth .... " After that , however , they proceeded to lay down almost the same restraints on the mind , and almost the same predetermination of what truth was to be found , as South Carolina had . One wonders about the role of George ...
Inhalt
1 | |
The Vocation of James Madison | 69 |
This Conscience Is Found in All Mankind | 127 |
A Fixed Star in Our Constitutional Constellation | 187 |
Concluding Notes on Liberty Shaping a Culture | 233 |
Thomas Jefferson A Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom 1777 | 255 |
James Madison Memorial and Remonstrance | 257 |
Acknowledgments and Sources | 265 |
Index | 271 |