Secularists, Religion and Government in Nineteenth-Century America

Secularists, Religion and Government in Nineteenth-Century America PDF Author: Timothy Verhoeven
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3030028771
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 290

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Book Description
This book shows how, through a series of fierce battles over Sabbath laws, legislative chaplains, Bible-reading in public schools and other flashpoints, nineteenth-century secularists mounted a powerful case for a separation of religion and government. Among their diverse ranks were religious skeptics, liberal Protestants, members of minority faiths, labor reformers and defenders of slavery. Drawing on popular petitions to Congress, a neglected historical source, the book explores how this secularist mobilization gathered energy at the grassroots level. The nineteenth century is usually seen as the golden age of an informal Protestant establishment. Timothy Verhoeven demonstrates that, far from being crushed by an evangelical juggernaut, secularists harnessed a range of cultural forces—the legacy of the Revolutionary founders, hostility to Catholicism, a belief in national exceptionalism and more—to argue that the United States was not a Christian nation, branding their opponents as fanatics who threatened both democratic liberties as well as true religion.

Secularists, Religion and Government in Nineteenth-Century America

Secularists, Religion and Government in Nineteenth-Century America PDF Author: Timothy Verhoeven
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3030028771
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 290

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book shows how, through a series of fierce battles over Sabbath laws, legislative chaplains, Bible-reading in public schools and other flashpoints, nineteenth-century secularists mounted a powerful case for a separation of religion and government. Among their diverse ranks were religious skeptics, liberal Protestants, members of minority faiths, labor reformers and defenders of slavery. Drawing on popular petitions to Congress, a neglected historical source, the book explores how this secularist mobilization gathered energy at the grassroots level. The nineteenth century is usually seen as the golden age of an informal Protestant establishment. Timothy Verhoeven demonstrates that, far from being crushed by an evangelical juggernaut, secularists harnessed a range of cultural forces—the legacy of the Revolutionary founders, hostility to Catholicism, a belief in national exceptionalism and more—to argue that the United States was not a Christian nation, branding their opponents as fanatics who threatened both democratic liberties as well as true religion.

The War That Wasn't

The War That Wasn't PDF Author: Benjamin Justice
Publisher: SUNY Press
ISBN: 9780791462126
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 306

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Book Description
An ambitious and timely look at the role of religion in New York State's early public schools.

Have a Little Faith

Have a Little Faith PDF Author: Benjamin Justice
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 022640059X
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 189

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Book Description
It isn’t just in recent arguments over the teaching of intelligent design or reciting the pledge of allegiance that religion and education have butted heads: since their beginnings nearly two centuries ago, public schools have been embroiled in heated controversies over religion’s place in the education system of a pluralistic nation. In this book, Benjamin Justice and Colin Macleod take up this rich and significant history of conflict with renewed clarity and astonishing breadth. Moving from the American Revolution to the present—from the common schools of the nineteenth century to the charter schools of the twenty-first—they offer one of the most comprehensive assessments of religion and education in America that has ever been published. From Bible readings and school prayer to teaching evolution and cultivating religious tolerance, Justice and Macleod consider the key issues and colorful characters that have shaped the way American schools have attempted to negotiate religious pluralism in a politically legitimate fashion. While schools and educational policies have not always advanced tolerance and understanding, Justice and Macleod point to the many efforts Americans have made to find a place for religion in public schools that both acknowledges the importance of faith to so many citizens and respects democratic ideals that insist upon a reasonable separation of church and state. Finally, they apply the lessons of history and political philosophy to an analysis of three critical areas of religious controversy in public education today: student-led religious observances in extracurricular activities, the tensions between freedom of expression and the need for inclusive environments, and the shift from democratic control of schools to loosely regulated charter and voucher programs. Altogether Justice and Macleod show how the interpretation of educational history through the lens of contemporary democratic theory offers both a richer understanding of past disputes and new ways of addressing contemporary challenges.

Divided by God

Divided by God PDF Author: Noah Feldman
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ISBN: 0374708150
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 324

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Book Description
A brilliant and urgent appraisal of one of the most profound conflicts of our time Even before George W. Bush gained reelection by wooing religiously devout "values voters," it was clear that church-state matters in the United States had reached a crisis. With Divided by God, Noah Feldman shows that the crisis is as old as this country--and looks to our nation's past to show how it might be resolved. Today more than ever, ours is a religiously diverse society: Muslim, Hindu, and Buddhist as well as Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish. And yet more than ever, committed Christians are making themselves felt in politics and culture. What are the implications of this paradox? To answer this question, Feldman makes clear that again and again in our nation's history diversity has forced us to redraw the lines in the church-state divide. In vivid, dramatic chapters, he describes how we as a people have resolved conflicts over the Bible, the Pledge of Allegiance, and the teaching of evolution through appeals to shared values of liberty, equality, and freedom of conscience. And he proposes a brilliant solution to our current crisis, one that honors our religious diversity while respecting the long-held conviction that religion and state should not mix. Divided by God speaks to the headlines, even as it tells the story of a long-running conflict that has made the American people who we are.

God in the Classroom

God in the Classroom PDF Author: R. Murray Thomas
Publisher: R & L Education
ISBN: 9781578866991
Category : Religion in the public schools
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Focuses on the seven major types of conflicts over the proper role of religion in schools that have become particularly confrontational during the first decade of the twenty-first century. The cases on which the chapters focus concern issues that currently are being hotly debated in America. Controversies are described in relation to their historical origins and the author shows how the history affects current understanding of the issues. Thomas does not take sides in the arguments; rather, he lays out the arguments, their historical and cultural contexts, and the groups that debate them and their goals. --From publisher description.

Menora V. Illinois High School Association

Menora V. Illinois High School Association PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 48

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Book Description


The Common School Awakening

The Common School Awakening PDF Author: David Komline
Publisher:
ISBN: 0190085150
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 313

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Book Description
The Common School Awakening offers a new narrative that counters previous conceptions about the rise of public schools in America. In this book, David Komline tells how Christian reformers played a defining role in the movement to systematize and professionalize American education in the first half of the nineteenth century.

The Oxford Handbook of Religion and American Education

The Oxford Handbook of Religion and American Education PDF Author: Michael D. Waggoner
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019938682X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 521

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Book Description
From the founding of Harvard College in 1636 as a mission for training young clergy to the landmark 1968 Supreme Court decision in Epperson v. Arkansas, which struck down the state's ban on teaching evolution in schools, religion and education in the United States have been inextricably linked. Still today new fights emerge over the rights and limitations of religion in the classroom. The Oxford Handbook of Religion and American Education brings together preeminent scholars from the fields of religion, education, law, and political science to craft a comprehensive survey and assessment of the study of religion and education in the United States. The essays in the first part develop six distinct conceptual lenses through which to view American education, including Privatism, Secularism, Pluralism, Religious Literacy, Religious Liberty, and Democracy. The following four parts expand on these concepts in a diverse range of educational frames: public schools, faith-based K-12 education, higher education, and lifespan faith development. Designed for a diverse and interdisciplinary audience, this addition to the Oxford Handbook series sets for itself a broad goal of understanding the place of religion and education in a modern democracy.

Law, Education, and the Place of Religion in Public Schools

Law, Education, and the Place of Religion in Public Schools PDF Author: Charles Russo
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000435288
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 277

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Book Description
This text presents a comparative, cross-cultural analysis of the legal status of religion in public education in eighteen different nations while offering recommendations for the future improvement of religious education in public schools. Offering rich, analytical insights from a range of renowned scholars with expertise in law, education, and religion, this volume provides detailed consideration of legal complexities impacting the place of religion and religious education in public education. The volume pays attention to issues of national and international relevance including the separation of the church and state; public funding of religious education; the accommodation of students’ devotional needs; and compulsory religious education. The volume thus highlights the increasingly complex interplay of religion, law, and education in diverse educational settings and cultures across developing and developed nations. Providing a valuable contribution to the field of religious secondary education research, this volume will be of interest to researchers, academics, and educators with an interest in religion and law, international and comparative education, and those involved with educational policy at all levels. Those more broadly interested in moral and values education will also benefit from the discussions the book contains.

The School and Society

The School and Society PDF Author: John Dewey
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 170

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Book Description