
- 224 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
About this book
Why secularism isn't the same thing as atheismāand why it's crucial for preserving liberty and democracy for all Americans, regardless of their beliefs. Founding father Thomas Jefferson believed that "religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God, " but these days many people seem to have forgotten this ideal. Conservatives claim America is a "Christian nation" and urge that laws be structured around religious convictions. Hardcore atheists, meanwhile, seek to undermine and attack religion at all levels. Surely there must be a middle ground. In How to Be Secular, Jacques Berlinerblau issues a call to the moderatesāthose who are tired of the belligerence on the fringesāthat we return to America's long tradition of secularism, which seeks to protect both freedom from and for religion. He looks at the roots of secularism and examines how it should be bolstered and strengthened so that Americans of all stripes can live together peacefully. "Jacques Berlinerblau mounts a careful, judicious, and compelling argument that America needs more secularists.... The author's argument merits a wide hearing and will change the way we think and talk about religious freedom." āRandall Balmer, author of Thy Kingdom Come: How the Religious Right Distorts Faith and Threatens America
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Information
Table of contents
- Title Page
- Contents
- Copyright
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- Preface
- Introduction: Is Secularism Dead?
- WHAT SECULARISM IS AND ISNāT
- What Is Secularism? (The Basic Package)
- Were the Founders Secular?
- Does Secularism Equal Total Separation of Church and State?
- Does Secularism Equal Atheism?
- How Not to Be Secular
- THE VERY PECULIAR āRISEā AND FALL OF AMERICAN SECULARISM
- The āRiseā of American Secularism and the Secularish
- The Fall of American Secularism
- Are Democrats Secularists?
- The Christian Nation and the GOP
- REVIVING AMERICAN SECULARISM
- Who Could Be a Secularist?
- How to Be Secularish (In Praise of āSecular Jewsā and āCafeteria Catholicsā)
- Tough Love for American Secularism
- Acknowledgments
- Notes
- Index
- About the Author
- Connect with HMH