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Reclaiming the Past

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This looks refreshing,

At a time when the separation of church and state is under attack as never before, Freethinkers offers a powerful defense of the secularist heritage that gave Americans the first government in the world founded not on the authority of religion but on the bedrock of human reason. In impassioned, elegant prose, celebrated author Susan Jacoby traces more than two hundred years of secularist activism, beginning with the fierce debate over the omission of God from the Constitution. Moving from nineteenth-century abolitionism and suffragism through the twentieth century's civil liberties, civil rights, and feminist movements, Freethinkers illuminates the neglected achievements of secularists who, allied with tolerant believers, have led the battle for reform in the past and today.



Comments

  1. Rick DiguetteMay 18, 2012 at 5:44 PM

    I have read this. It is a fairly brief, "preaching to the choir" type of book.

    ReplyDelete
  2. James FergusonMay 18, 2012 at 8:14 PM

    No great insights?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Rick DiguetteMay 18, 2012 at 9:05 PM

    I'm thinking of another book, "Alger Hiss and the Battle for History." Haven't read this one.

    ReplyDelete
  4. James FergusonMay 18, 2012 at 11:00 PM

    Quite a difference! I was searching for titles after waging a fierce battle with charismatics over Barton's book on Jefferson. You know me, I love a fight. I came across this one, which has been well reviewed. It seems Secularism has become a pejorative term like liberal and progressive among the right wing, yet our founding fathers were secularists, no matter how much hogwash Barton spills out in his book to the contrary. Needless to say, Barton tops Jacoby in book sales.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Rick DiguetteMay 19, 2012 at 12:16 AM

    You might find the two books have more in common than you think. The right wing filters everything through a tissue of falsehood.

    ReplyDelete

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