The First Liberty: America's Foundation in Religious Freedom, Expanded and UpdatedGeorgetown University Press, 7 mrt 2003 - 296 pagina's 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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... Anglican in religious matters , wrote that because reason and not force should govern belief , " all men should enjoy the fullest Toleration in the Exercise of Religion according to the Dictates of Conscience . " To most of the ...
... Anglican priests and powerful Anglican squires . Implicitly it would also mean that heathens , pagans , and nonbelievers had rights equal to those of believers , although that point would not be emphasized in Williams- burg , Virginia ...
... Anglican church , that their preachers apply for licenses , that their meetings be authorized . They had asked that their clergy , like the Anglicans , be allowed to perform marriages . Now the Declaration of Rights cut through all of ...
... Anglican clergy and churches and over the licens- ing of preachers and meeting houses — law and order issues , as the old Virginia legislators saw them . Until the end of the century there would be pushing and pulling over issues having ...
... Anglican vestrymen and clergy in Virginia in general were not guilty of any such intensity . The older Virginia — the Old Dominion — built around order , hierar- chy , community , and rank , was given its shape by the dominance of the ...
Inhoudsopgave
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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 |