Church, State, And The Crisis In American Secularism

Book Summary

Since 1947, the Supreme Court has promised government neutrality towardreligion, but in a nation whose motto is "In God We Trust" and whichpledges allegiance to "One Nation under God," the public square isanything but neutral -- a paradox not lost on a rapidly secularizing America and apoint of contention among those who identify all expressions of religion bygovernment as threats to a free society. Yeshiva student turned secularist, BruceLedewitz seeks common ground for believers and nonbelievers regarding the law ofchurch and state. He argues that allowing government to promote higher law valuesthrough the use of religious imagery would resolve the current impasse in theinterpretation of the Establishment Clause. It would offer secularism an escape fromits current tendency toward relativism in its dismissal of all that religionrepresents and encourage a deepening of the expression of meaning in the publicsquare without compromising secular conceptions of government.

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