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History.
Religion & Spirituality.
Nonfiction.
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Do "In God We Trust," the Declaration of Independence, and other historical "evidence" prove that America was founded on Judeo-Christian principles? Are the Ten Commandments the basis for American law? A constitutional attorney dives into the debate about religion's role in America's founding.
In today's contentious political climate, understanding religion's role in American government is more important than ever. Christian nationalists assert that our nation was founded on Judeo-Christian principles, and advocate an agenda based on this popular historical claim. But is this belief true? The Founding Myth answers the question once and for all. Andrew L. Seidel, a constitutional attorney at the Freedom from Religion Foundation, builds his case point by point, comparing the Ten Commandments to the Constitution and contrasting biblical doctrine with America's founding philosophy, showing that the Bible contradicts the Declaration of Independence's central tenets. Thoroughly researched, this persuasively argued and fascinating book proves that America was not built on the Bible and that Christian nationalism is, in fact, un-American.
Argued it's central thesis exceptionally well, and would have been an easy 5 star had the author not taken so many detours to (accurately, but unrelated to the main argument) criticize Christianity ( )
Did not finish. I was hoping this book would explain why Christian Nationalists held these beliefs about American principles. Instead, the book reads more like a New Atheist screed that treats "religion", "Christianity", and "Protestantism" as interchangeable, with a concordant loss of explanatory power. Similarly, Seidel seems to uncritically accept the (largely Christian Nationalist) appending of "Judeo-" to "Judeo-Christian values"—an important rhetorical move that also feeds into American evangelical politics in important ways.
Given that the remainder of the book seemed to be a point-by-point rebuttal of specific C.N. beliefs/talking points with similarly medium analytical rigor, I didn't feel a need to finish reading it.
A solid scholarly work on the founding of America, detailing all the ways in which the founders declared that we are not, in fact, a Christian nation. The author uses the founder's own words, because they so eloquently declare what the Christian right is constantly trying to deny - the founders deliberately kept church and state separate, and it was not so much to protect the church as to protect the state. They were aware of the dangers of mingling government and religion, and did their best to forestall such an event. This was true even of most of the religious founders, which demonstrates that it is inadequate to point to the piety (real or supposed) of any founder and assume that means that founder, let alone all of them, wanted us to be tied to any church. Should be required reading, but probably the people who need to read it the most will not. ( )
An important, well written book, logical and factually accurate. My only problem is it's so ... "lawyer-speak," I mean uber dry! I would have given another star if Seidel had simply handed it over to a good, veteran co-author who could have injected a little prose, a little life into it. I mean I've published academic papers and white papers, and your average reader would have said about those works what I just wrote about this book. But the difference is those papers were not intended for general readers but for niche target audiences. That's what this book feels like, but I was under the assumption that this book is intended for wide, general audiences, and I just don't think it'll appeal to your average reader, even for some more specific target audience. The only readers I see this book appealing to are Constitutional lawyers and scholars, a few historians, a number of atheists (preaching to the choir) and possibly a few intellectually curious Christians... But great topic, superb research and arguments to support his thesis. I do hope more people than I anticipate will read it. ( )
Informatie afkomstig uit de Engelse Algemene Kennis.Bewerk om naar jouw taal over te brengen.
"It has been the misfortune of history that a personal knowledge and an impartial judgment of things, can rarely meet in in the historian. The best history of our country therefore must be the fruit of contributions bequeathed by co-temporary actors and witnesses, to successors who will make an unbiased use of them. And if the abundance and authenticity of the materials which still exist in the private as well as in public repositories among us should descend to hands capable of doing justice to them, then American History may be expected to contain more truth, and lessons certainly not less valuable, than that of any Country or age whatever."
--James Madison, in a letter to Edward Everett, March 19, 1823
"From the totalitarian point of view, history is something to be created rather than learned. A totalitarian state is in effect a theocracy, and its ruling caste, in order to keep its position, has to be thought of as infallible."
--George Orwell "The Prevention of Literature," 1946
Opdracht
Eerste woorden
Informatie afkomstig uit de Engelse Algemene Kennis.Bewerk om naar jouw taal over te brengen.
(Foreword by Susan Jacoby) Andrew Seidel's The Founding Myth: Why Christian Nationalism is Un-American could hardly arrive at a more propitious moment, as a nation based upon the world's first secular Constitution--a document that never mentions any god and derives its authority from "We the People"--must cope on a daily basis with an administration in thrall to what is best described as Christian nationalism.
(Preface by Dan Barker) I met Andrew Seidel in 2010.
(Introduction: Prelude to an Argument) God bequeathed the Ten Commandments to Moses, or so the story goes.
(Usage Note) Capitalization was used deliberately in this book, not as a way to slight religion, but as a way to accurately reflect how we ought to write about religion.
(Chapter 1) "Washington, you know is gone!" announced Mason Locke Weems, an Episcopal priest, to his Philadelphia publisher.
Citaten
Laatste woorden
Ontwarringsbericht
Informatie afkomstig uit de Engelse Algemene Kennis.Bewerk om naar jouw taal over te brengen.
We must, as Madison warned, take "alarm at the first experiment on our liberties."
Uitgevers redacteuren
Informatie afkomstig uit de Engelse Algemene Kennis.Bewerk om naar jouw taal over te brengen.
History.
Religion & Spirituality.
Nonfiction.
HTML:
Do "In God We Trust," the Declaration of Independence, and other historical "evidence" prove that America was founded on Judeo-Christian principles? Are the Ten Commandments the basis for American law? A constitutional attorney dives into the debate about religion's role in America's founding.
In today's contentious political climate, understanding religion's role in American government is more important than ever. Christian nationalists assert that our nation was founded on Judeo-Christian principles, and advocate an agenda based on this popular historical claim. But is this belief true? The Founding Myth answers the question once and for all. Andrew L. Seidel, a constitutional attorney at the Freedom from Religion Foundation, builds his case point by point, comparing the Ten Commandments to the Constitution and contrasting biblical doctrine with America's founding philosophy, showing that the Bible contradicts the Declaration of Independence's central tenets. Thoroughly researched, this persuasively argued and fascinating book proves that America was not built on the Bible and that Christian nationalism is, in fact, un-American.
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