Secularism

  (out of 5 stars)

Journalist and scholar Susan Jacoby offers a history of American secular icons, trends, and controversies. From early political and cultural icons like Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Paine, to the golden days of the Great Agnostic Col. Robert Ingersoll and Elizabeth Stanton, as well as many others, Jacoby weaves a narrative of struggle and fortitude worthy of digesting.

Early American secularists were primarily concerned with keeping religion out of government and vice versa. There can be no doubt about the will of men like Jefferson in establishing a clear wall between church and state matters. Often, as Jacoby narrates, church leaders even supported this stance, understanding that a separation protected all flavors of religion.

The struggle of secularists did not end with church and state matters, especially when the abolitionist and feminist movements began to gain steam. Secular leaders such as Elizabeth Cady Standon and William Lloyd Garrison led charges against the clerical nature of religion and forwarded the rights movements with the help of many other secular proponents.

For me, the highlights of the book include the histories of the anti-evolution, anti-feminist, and prayer-in-school movements. The past anti-evolution movement closely mirrors the intelligent design ignorance movement of the modern age. Jacoby destroys that often-espoused sectarian notion that religion championed women's rights, abolition, and other rights (see debate points by apologist Dinesh D'Souza, for instance). While some religious leaders did in fact champion these progressive causes, there were uncountable religious forced allied against them. Slavery, in particular, was often justified by bible-thumping Christians as ordained by God himself. The hatred and bile spewed by conservative Christian leaders over the centuries does not reflect well on the role of religion at all.

Anyone who wants to understand the fight for free speech, free religion, and freethinking should read this book. While it does not delve deeply into most of the people or events involved, it offers a broad history with many key stories that make clear how important, and fragile, the pursuit of secular, freethinking goals are in America. Four stars.

  (out of 5 stars)

Brooke Allen presents a quick history of six of the primary Founding Fathers of the USA and their views towards religion and government. Allen lets each featured statesman speak largely for himself, with excellect excerpts taken in context, conveying the undoubtable position that Franklin, Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, and Hamilton were absolutely determined to create a nation which maintained walls between church and state.

Each of the first six chapters features a different statesmen. Throughout, Allen largely excerpts topical writings from letters, speeches, and other documents which offer keen insight into the thoughts and opinions of each man. Allen points out that many modern Christians try to argue that these men were likewise Christian, founding the nation on primarily Christian beliefs and values. By reading the thoughts of these men, that argument could not be any more wrong.

Although none of these men were atheist or agnostic (in modern terms, though Franklin may have been despite a few of his public statements), most were Deists who specifically denied the very Christian beliefs of the divinity of Jesus, revelation, atonement, and the historical value of the Bible. Each man argued prodigiously against mingling church and state.

Latter parts of the book give the reader a nice history of Enlightenment thought which greatly influenced these men. The ideals of natural law and personal freedoms come not from Biblical interpretations and implementations, but instead from enlighted thinkers such as Locke, Paine, Voltaire, and Smith. Allen's history is brief but covers the subject very nicely. Jefferson himself shows that he understood the concepts of natural law to come early Saxons prior to their exposure to Christianity, contrary to the breathless claims made by modern evangelicals and apologists.

Moral Minority is a great book to offer any reader willing to consider the words of the Founders themselves rather than simply accept the modern-day evangelical propaganda regarding our 'Christian' heritage. While there is no doubt that Christianity played a large role in the development of our nation, as did many practicing, devout Christians, the most commonly cited statesment responsible for leading the Revolution and early US govenrment were, without a doubt, against any co-mingling of church and state. It could not be more clear, and it makes the secular-religious struggle over church and state issues today blatantly one of revisionist history by those on the religious side, a deceptive tactic that launched during the lifetimes of these statesmen.

One of the interesting side effects noted by Allen is that the drive for a truly secular government rather than a tolerant one (the tolerant government has an official state religion but offers 'toleration' to other religions) was the development of a more religious population. Had a specific Christian denomination been given sanction, argues Allen, it is very likely that the resulting population would have been less able to develop the wide variety of denominations we now find. By refusing to allow a single sanction, the founders in effect allowed a great diversity of religious varieties to thrive. Though not quite the effect these men were after, all would clearly favor their decision even to this day.

Reading this book should make one angry over the blatant lies and revisionist history taking place by Christians in this nation. Madison, Adams, and Jefferson are doing flips in their respective graves. Take this opportunity to join the Freedom From Religion Foundation, which is leading the fight to keep religion out of state affairs. I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting a quick history of the opinions of our most important founding statesment concerning religion and church/state matters. Four and one-half stars.