For decades, Press argues, conservatives have defined religion so narrowly that Democrats and liberals have been pushed outside the fold. According to their narrow gospel, God put George W. Bush in the White House to deal with gays, guns, and abortion—and those who don’t agree are on the sure road to hell. How the Republicans Stole Religion is Press’s fervent call for the left to reclaim religion and return it to its basic principles of social justice, charity, and tolerance.
For decades, Press argues, conservatives have defined religion so narrowly that Democrats and liberals have been pushed outside the fold. According to their narrow gospel, God put George W. Bush in the White House to deal with gays, guns, and abortion—and those who don’t agree are on the sure road to hell. How the Republicans Stole Religion is Press’s fervent call for the left to reclaim religion and return it to its basic principles of social justice, charity, and tolerance.
In the wake of an election seen by many as a triumphant victory for “moral values,” political commentator and one-time seminarian Bill Press launches a counteroffensive against the so-called religious right. For decades, Press argues, conservative preachers such as Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, and James Dobson—joined by most Catholic bishops—have defined religion so narrowly that Democrats and liberals have been pushed outside the fold. According to their narrow gospel, God put George Bush in the White House to deal with gays, guns, and abortion—and those who don’t agree are on the sure road to hell. Bill Press says it’s time to take religion back: “Who gave this gang the inside track on religion, anyway? The way I read the Gospels, Jesus was as liberal as Paul Wellstone. He sure as hell wouldn’t have been a registered Republican. One other thing’s for sure: if Jesus ever came back to earth, there’s one gang he wouldn’t hang out with; and that’s this phony bunch of pious, puffed-up preachers who wear religion on their sleeves.” How the Republicans Stole Christmas is also Press’s fervent call to Democrats and liberals to reclaim religion and return it to its basic principles of social justice, charity, and tolerance. Press argues that the Right didn’t just steal religion, the Left let them have it, offering no resistance as conservatives dictated what’s right and what’s wrong. But on today’s social issues, according to Press, religious conservatives have gotten it all wrong. They have turned Jesus from a loving Messiah who championed the poor and dispossessed into a cold-blooded advocate for the rich and powerful. Press does not confine his criticisms to so-called Christian leaders; he uncovers the same wrong-headed tendencies in other faiths and among nonbelievers, who even today cling to the Old Testament as an appropriate code of behavior.
Like a newly discovered treasure map offering a path to buried riches, Foxes in the Henhouse is a hard-hitting political blueprint for how the Democrats can win again in the South and rural America. The authors document the Republicans' rise in the South and Midwest, expose the hypocrisy that marked their ascent, and offer a take-no-prisoners plan to kick them out. The authors know of what they speak. "Rural strategists" Steve Jarding and Dave "Mudcat" Saunders are famous for securing Democratic victories in places they shouldn't have -- most notably in Mark Warner's successful run for governor of Virginia, a campaign that wasn't afraid to use bluegrass concerts and NASCAR to get the message out. When George W. Bush swept the South clean in 2004, it was the final insult to Jarding and Saunders, two self-proclaimed "bubbas" on a mission to convince their fellow southerners and rural Americans that the GOP's claim of representing "values," patriotism, the sportsmen, and fiscal conservatism is a disastrous farce. In addition to exposing the lies behind the gradual Republican invasion of the hinterland that began in the 1960s, they offer some surprisingly simple strategies for Democrats to capture each of these issues. Among other things, Jarding and Saunders urge Democrats to • Quit turning their noses up at the culture of rural America and talk to people where they live • Learn how to count when going after votes • Show some passion and retaliate when Republicans assassinate their characters Packed with meticulous and shocking research findings; blunt, laugh-out-loud language; and merciless assaults on George W. Bush, Tom DeLay, Bill O'Reilly, and plenty of other right-wing charlatans, Foxes in the Henhouse is a must-read and will be one of the most talked-about books of the year and for election cycles to come.
Like a mighty army moves the church of God; Brothers, we are treading where the saints have trod. We are not divided, all one body we. One in hope and doctrine, one in charity. -- From the nineteenth-century hymn "Onward, Christian Soldiers" What keeps America a country of religious practice and traditional values? How has the U.S. avoided suc-cumbing to total secularism? The answer to these provocative questions is found in the religious commun-ities of America today: In the past thirty years, the religiously active voter has migrated to the Republican Party, and the story behind this shift, evidenced in the emergence of Evangelical dominance over mainstream Protestantism and the defeat of liberal Catholicism, is at the heart of this fascinating cultural history. In Onward, Christian Soldiers, the Washington insider who was at the vanguard of the sea change in religious and political history that propelled George W. Bush into the White House offers an intimate perspective on those remarkable years -- and their influence over the ones to come. Deal W. Hudson analyzes how, steadily over-coming age-old misjudgments and misunderstandings that separated them, conservative Catholics and Evangelical Christians drew together because of what they viewed as profound assaults on shared core beliefs. They became allies to battle the forces of secularization, relativism, and atheism. And together they forged a grassroots movement across America that astonished political activists and surprised commentators as well as members of traditional religious organizations. How, exactly, was this coalition achieved and who were its movers and shakers? What enabled them to deepen, enrich, and activate the resurgence of traditional values in society to make America radically different from the secularized Europe that was so widely believed to be on the verge of becoming the model for the United States? Deal W. Hudson details this phenomenon by examining the leading figures and institutions on both sides of the debate, exposing the dramatic encounters between those espousing fundamental Judeo-Christian beliefs and those heralding the "death of God" and the new age of secular humanism. Dealing with today's hot-button issues, Onward, Christian Soldiers provides an unprecedented look at the confrontation of the religious right with secularists in America, a confrontation that is not only timely but also timeless in its impact.
Political consultant and commentator Patrick Hynes dispels common stereotypes and misapprehensions about the most powerful political constituency in the country while undertaking the most exhaustive effort yet to define what the Religious Right is, what its members believe, and why they are right.
New York Times–bestselling author John Danforth, an ordained Episcopal priest and former US senator, is uniquely qualified to write about one of the most contentious issues in America: the intersection of government and religion. In Faith and Politics, he explores the widening rift between left and right, conservative and liberal, believer and nonbeliever. Danforth takes on many of the polarizing hot-button issues, including stem-cell research, abortion, school prayer, and gay marriage, and addresses how we can approach them with less rancor. Arguing that voters must call for our leaders to turn away from wedge-issue politics and work on our country’s pressing problems, Danforth’s book is a much-needed clarion call to all Americans. “A lucid, powerful book that is at once reflective and instructive.”—Jon Meacham, former editor of Newsweek “[A] meditation about the contested terrain where politics and religion intersect.”—George F. Will “Danforth calls for a radical change in how his party operates.”—The Christian Science Monitor “This book and its author are a modern-day profile in courage.”—David Gergen “Danforth’s thoughtfulness, deep wisdom, and simple decency radiate from every page, and leave one at the end with rare hope that through commitment, faith and politics can ultimately enrich, not corrupt, one another.”—Harold Hongju Koh, dean of Yale Law School
Is Christianity true? Can educated, thinking people really believe the Bible? Or, do the athiests have it right? Has Christianity been disproved by science and discredited as a guide to morality? Best-selling author Dinesh D'Souza (What's So Great About America) approaches Christianity with a skeptical eye, but treats the skeptics with equal skepticism. The result is a book that will challenge the assumptions of doubters and affirm that there really is, indeed, something great about Christianity.
There has always been an intricate relationship between religion and politics. This encyclopedia provides a comprehensive overview of the interrelation of religion and politics from colonial days to the present. Can a judge display the Ten Commandments outside of the courthouse? Can a town set up a nativity scene on the village green during Christmas? Should U.S. currency bear the "In God We Trust" motto? Should public school students be allowed to form bible study groups? Controversies about the separation of church and state, the proper use of religious imagery in public space, and the role of religious beliefs in public education are constantly debated. This work offers insights into contemporary controversies regarding the uneasy intersections of religion and politics in America. Organized alphabetically, the entries place each topic in its proper historical context to help readers fully grasp how religious beliefs have always existed side by side—and often clashed with—political ideals in the United States from the time of the colonies. The information is presented in an unbiased manner that favors no particular religious background or political inclination. This work shows that politics and religion have always had an impact on one another and have done so in many ways that will likely surprise modern students.
