This important book is for the general reader, the student of American culture and religion, and those who are looking for examples and analyses of interfaith relationships in the United States. This book could well serve as a selection for a book club, for an adult education class in a religious congregation, or as a resource for undergraduate studies of religion in the US.

The author sets out to study interfaith relationships in five areas: that of the scholars of religion; that of national political action groups; that of local community groups; that of interfaith marriages; and that of conversations about religion on the internet. She describes what she knows of each area, having done some mostly anecdotal research regarding local community groups and interfaith marriages. Her goal is not to systematically cover each area but to provide a variety of instances for reflection and further investigation. Doctoral students will undoubtedly find ample leads here to pursue in more depth.

McCarthy herself favors growth and exploration in interfaith relations as one way for Americans to cope with their diversity without falling into civil war. She has no prescription for how the outcome will look in terms of religious landscape. It's the process of coming together and interacting that intrigues her. This process is what makes space possible for the development of respect, knowledge, and care for those who are different from each other, especially in religious beliefs and traditions.

The thorny question she faces concerns those who spurn interfaith interaction on the basis of equally passionately held beliefs about the exclusive truth of their own views. How can you mutually explore religious beliefs and feelings with those who have no interest in yours, or who claim that yours are false? The author continually raises this important question but cannot provide a way through it. She notes the coming together of Christian Zionists and the lobbying interests for Israel to promote political support for Israel, but as this alliance is based on varying degrees of cynicism and manipulation, it does not fit well with McCarthy's call for open and searching interfaith relations.

McCarthy writes well, clearly, and with good logical flow. She describes at the outset what she intends to do, and she delivers it as promised, with mastery. The reader gains a number of insights on contemporary US religious culture. There could have been a bit more attention at the proof-reading stage. For instance, some of the footnotes for Chapter 5 are missing, and there are a few incorrect words that got past the spell-checker but would have been found by a human editor.

Those who liked this book might also look at The Faith Club: A Muslim, A Christian, A Jew-- Three Women Search for Understanding. ( )