The Woodrow Wilson Center Press
Religion Returns to the Public Square: Faith and Policy in America
Despite talk of a "naked public square," religion has never really lost its place in American public life. As the twenty-first century opened, it was re-emerging in unexpected and paradoxical ways. Religious institutions were considered for expanded roles in welfare and education, at the same time that the limits of religious pluralism---as, for example, in the relation of Islam to American values--became a question of urgent public concern.
Religion Returns to the Public Square:Faith and Policy in America explores how and why religion has to be mixed up with American politics. Uncovering philosophical, historical, legal, and social roots of this relationship, these essays go beyond hot-button issues to reflect on the current interactions and future possibilities of religion and politics in America.
A full transcript of the book launch discussion that occurred on February 28, 2003, can be found at the Pew Forum for Religion in Public Life website.
What People are Saying
"The contributors comprise a truly dazzling array of talent. They are precisely the ones one would want to read for insight into the difficult but crucial questions regarding the relationship between religion and public policy."--Marc Landy, professor of Political Science at Boston College
Chapter List
Part I: The Big Picture
1. An Introduction to Religion and Public Policy
2. Two Concepts of Secularism, by Wilfred M. McClay
3. The Religious Conscience and the State in American Constitutional Law, 1789-2000, by Charles J. Reid Jr.
4. What is a Public Religion? by Jose Casanova
Part II: Religion in Political Action
5. Faith and Morals: Religion in American Democracy, by Wilson Carey McWilliams
6. Faith in Politics, by A. James Reichley
7. Mainstream Protestantism, 'Conservative' Religion, and Civil Society, by D. G. Hart
Part III: Policy Applications
8. American Catholicism, Catholic Charities U.S.A., and Welfare Reform, by John A. Coleman, S.J.
9. Charitable Choice: Bringing Religion Back into American Welfare, by Stanley W. Carlson-Thies
10. Public Education Changes Partners, by Charles Glenn
11. With God on Their Side: Religion and American Foreign Policy, by William Martin