Politics, Religion and Other Stuff...

Politics, Religion and Other Stuff... PDF

Author: Dan Tolva

Publisher:

Published: 2017-10-11

Total Pages: 270

ISBN-13: 9781640820869

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Risky reading So how many family gatherings have been ruined by someone bringing up a particularly touchy subject and obnoxiously pressing it until relatives and friends either fled or committed assault and battery? How many Thanksgiving dinners have been spoiled by ugly political conversations or graphic descriptions of various medical problems? Well, Facebook is a lot like those family gatherings, except with a whole bunch of strangers invited. On Facebook, so-called friends do battle every day over all kinds of controversial issues, and things get so out of hand that often the most dreaded penalty imaginable in society today is imposed: "un-friending." Such a fate befell retired newspaper editor Dan Tolva, whose conservative political bent got him detached from the page of a beloved but passionately liberal granddaughter. As a result, Tolva, who has been posting on Facebook for several years with the object of compiling his pieces for an eventual book, decided to do just that. Here's the result, Politics, Religion and Other Stuff We're Not Supposed to Discuss in Polite Society. Most of the topics are volatile enough that this book probably should not be brought to your next family gathering. You have been warned. Dan Tolva September 2017

Religion and Politics in the Contemporary United States

Religion and Politics in the Contemporary United States PDF

Author: R. Marie Griffith

Publisher: JHU Press

Published: 2008-06-09

Total Pages: 750

ISBN-13: 0801895316

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This collection of essays from a special issue of American Quarterly explores the complex and sometimes contradictory ways that religion matters in contemporary public life. Religion and Politics in the Contemporary United States offers a groundbreaking, cross-disciplinary conversation between scholars in American studies and religious studies. The contributors explore numerous modes through which religious faith has mobilized political action. They utilize a variety of definitions of politics, ranging from lobbying by religious leaders to the political impact of popular culture. Their work includes the political activities of a very diverse group of religious believers: Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and others. In addition, the book explores the meanings of religion for people who might contest the term—those who are spiritual but not religious, for example, as well as activists who engage symbols of faith and community but who may not necessarily consider themselves members of a specific religion. Several essays also examine the meanings of secular identity, humanist politics, and the complex evocations of civil religion in American life. No other book on religion and politics includes anything like the diversity of religions, ethnicities, and topics that this one does—from Mormon political mobilization to attempts at Americanizing Muslims in the post-9/11 United States, from César Chávez to James Dobson, from interreligious cooperation and conflict over Darfur to the global politics surrounding the category of Hindus and South Asians in the United States.

Religion and Politics in the United States

Religion and Politics in the United States PDF

Author: Kenneth D. Wald

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2014-03-04

Total Pages: 497

ISBN-13: 1442225556

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From marriage equality, to gun control, to immigration reform and the threat of war, religion plays a fascinating and crucial part in our nation's political process and in our culture at large. Now in its seventh edition, Religion and Politics in the United States includes analyses of the nation's most pressing political matters regarding religious freedom, and the ways in which that essential constitutional freedom situates itself within modern America. The book also explores the ways that religion has affected the orientation of partisan politics in the United States. Through a detailed review of the political attitudes and behaviors of major religious and minority faith traditions, the book establishes that religion continues to be a major part of the American cultural and political milieu while explaining that it must interact with many other factors to influence political outcomes in the United States.

God Is Not Great

God Is Not Great PDF

Author: Christopher Hitchens

Publisher: McClelland & Stewart

Published: 2008-11-19

Total Pages: 322

ISBN-13: 1551991764

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Christopher Hitchens, described in the London Observer as “one of the most prolific, as well as brilliant, journalists of our time” takes on his biggest subject yet–the increasingly dangerous role of religion in the world. In the tradition of Bertrand Russell’s Why I Am Not a Christian and Sam Harris’s recent bestseller, The End Of Faith, Christopher Hitchens makes the ultimate case against religion. With a close and erudite reading of the major religious texts, he documents the ways in which religion is a man-made wish, a cause of dangerous sexual repression, and a distortion of our origins in the cosmos. With eloquent clarity, Hitchens frames the argument for a more secular life based on science and reason, in which hell is replaced by the Hubble Telescope’s awesome view of the universe, and Moses and the burning bush give way to the beauty and symmetry of the double helix.

Politics, Religion and Other Stuff...

Politics, Religion and Other Stuff... PDF

Author: Dan Tolva

Publisher: Page Publishing Inc

Published: 2017-11-17

Total Pages: 268

ISBN-13: 1640820876

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Risky reading So how many family gatherings have been ruined by someone bringing up a particularly touchy subject and obnoxiously pressing it until relatives and friends either fled or committed assault and battery? How many Thanksgiving dinners have been spoiled by ugly political conversations or graphic descriptions of various medical problems? Well, Facebook is a lot like those family gatherings, except with a whole bunch of strangers invited. On Facebook, so-called friends do battle every day over all kinds of controversial issues, and things get so out of hand that often the most dreaded penalty imaginable in society today is imposed: “un-friending.” Such a fate befell retired newspaper editor Dan Tolva, whose conservative political bent got him detached from the page of a beloved but passionately liberal granddaughter. As a result, Tolva, who has been posting on Facebook for several years with the object of compiling his pieces for an eventual book, decided to do just that. Here’s the result, Politics, Religion and Other Stuff We’re Not Supposed to Discuss in Polite Society. Most of the topics are volatile enough that this book probably should not be brought to your next family gathering. You have been warned.

The Diminishing Divide

The Diminishing Divide PDF

Author: Andrew Kohut

Publisher: Brookings Institution Press

Published: 2001-09-19

Total Pages: 194

ISBN-13: 0815723598

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The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution forbids the creation of an official state church, and we hear the phrase "separation of church and state" so frequently that it may surprise us to note that no such barrier exists between religion and politics. Religion is, and always has been, woven into the fabric of American political life. In the last two decades, however, the role of religion in politics has become more direct—almost a blunt, self-conscious force in the political process. The national consequences of this "diminishing divide" between religion and politics have brought new groups into politics, altered party coalitions, and influenced campaigns and election results. Churches and other religious institutions have become more actively engaged in the political process, and religious people have increased the level and broadened the range of their political participation. While the public is more accepting of the role of religion in shaping today's political landscape, the issue of how much political power certain religious groups enjoy continues to provoke concern.Drawing on extensive survey data from the Pew Research Center, the National Election Studies, and other sources, The Diminishing Divide illuminates the historical relationship between religion and politics in the United States and explores the ways in which religion will continue to alter the political landscape in the century before us. A historical overview of religion in U.S. politics sets the tone as the book examines the patchwork quilt of American religion and the changing role of religious institutions in American political life since the 1960s. The book explores the complex relations between religion and political attitudes, as well as that of religion and political behavior—particularly with respect to party affiliation and voting habits. Finally, The Diminishing Divide offers a look at the future. As candidates and elected officials increasingly air their personal faith in pub

American Grace

American Grace PDF

Author: Robert D. Putnam

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2012-02-21

Total Pages: 720

ISBN-13: 1416566732

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Draws on three national surveys on religion, as well as research conducted by congregations across the United States, to examine the profound impact it has had on American life and how religious attitudes have changed in recent decades.

Politics, Religion and Political Theology

Politics, Religion and Political Theology PDF

Author: C. Allen Speight

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2017-06-30

Total Pages: 242

ISBN-13: 9402410821

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This new volume gives discursive shape to several key facets of the relationship among politics, theology and religious thought. Powerfully relevant to a wealth of further academic disciplines including history, law and the humanities, it sharpens the contours of our understanding in a live and evolving field. It charts the mechanisms by which, contrary to the avowed secularism of many of today’s polities, theology and religion have often, and sometimes profoundly, shaped political discourse. By augmenting this broader analysis with a selection of authoritative papers focusing on the prominent sub-field of political theology, the anthology offsets a startling academic lacuna. Alongside focused analysis of subjects such as conscience, secularism and religious tolerance, the discussion of political theology examines the tradition’s critical moments, including developments during the post-World War I Weimar republic in Germany and the epistemological imprint the theory has left behind in works by political thinkers influenced by the three major monotheistic traditions.

Scriptures, Shrines, Scapegoats, and World Politics

Scriptures, Shrines, Scapegoats, and World Politics PDF

Author: Zeev Maoz

Publisher: University of Michigan Press

Published: 2020-03-19

Total Pages: 457

ISBN-13: 0472901230

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The effect of religious factors on politics has been a key issue since the end of the Cold War and the subsequent rise of religious terrorism. However, the systematic investigations of these topics have focused primarily on the effects of religion on domestic and international conflict. Scriptures, Shrines, Scapegoats, and World Politics offers a comprehensive evaluation of the role of religion in international relations, broadening the scope of investigation to such topics as the relationship between religion and cooperation, religion and conflict, and the relationship between religion and the quality of life. Religion is often manipulated by political elites to advance their principal goal of political survival. Zeev Maoz and Errol A. Henderson find that no specific religion is either consistently more bellicose or consistently more cooperative than other religions. However, religious similarity between states tends to reduce the propensity of conflict and increase the opportunity for security cooperation. The authors find a significant relationship between secularism and human security.

At Home and Abroad

At Home and Abroad PDF

Author: Elizabeth Shakman Hurd

Publisher: Columbia University Press

Published: 2021-03-02

Total Pages: 270

ISBN-13: 0231552904

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From right to left, notions of religion and religious freedom are fundamental to how many Americans have understood their country and themselves. Ideas of religion, politics, and the interplay between them are no less crucial to how the United States has engaged with the world beyond its borders. Yet scholarship on American religion tends to bracket the domestic and foreign, despite the fact that assumptions about the differences between ourselves and others deeply shape American religious categories and identities. At Home and Abroad bridges the divide in the study of American religion, law, and politics between domestic and international, bringing together diverse and distinguished authors from religious studies, law, American studies, sociology, history, and political science to explore interrelations across conceptual and political boundaries. They bring into sharp focus the ideas, people, and institutions that provide links between domestic and foreign religious politics and policies. Contributors break down the categories of domestic and foreign and inquire into how these taxonomies are related to other axes of discrimination, asking questions such as: What and who counts as “home” or “abroad,” how and by whom are these determinations made, and with what consequences? Offering a new approach to theorizing the politics of religion in the context of the American nation-state, At Home and Abroad also interrogates American religious exceptionalism and illuminates imperial dynamics beyond the United States.