In a 2006 article in the William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal , Frederick Mark Gedicks points out the impotence of civil religion in a pluralist society: “The irony of civil religion is that it is supposed to provide a substitute for theestablished church, a means of morally instructing . . . . Continue Reading »
Is America a “Christian nation”? A perennial puzzle, and finally impossible to answer without many “in what respects?” qualifiers. One distinction might help: Presuppose a nation full of Christians, as America was for much of its history. That nation might take various . . . . Continue Reading »
Was “religion” in the First Amendment implicitly understood to mean “Christian denominations” or “Christianity”? Not by everyone. During the debates over disestablishment in Virginia in 1785, Jefferson explained that the vote on one amendment proved that . . . . Continue Reading »
In his book, A Christian America , Robert Handy describes some of the debate concerning the First Amendment: “The religious question was given considerable attention during the debate over the First Amendment. Madison apparently would have liked to have the remaining establishments in the . . . . Continue Reading »
In a 1998 essay, “Is America an Experiment?” Wilfred McClay notes that, for all our supposed materialism and pragmaticism, Americans are “a remarkably introspective people,” with an “incorrigible” habit of trying to divine the meaning of our country. McClay lists . . . . Continue Reading »
Some musings of mine on the dynamics and tensions of America’s role in the world was published this morning at http://www.firstthings.com/ . . . . . Continue Reading »
Wilson was the first sitting American President ever to venture out of the Western Hemisphere. He left the U.S. on December 4, 1918 to conclude the treaty that ended World War 1 in person. He got a hero’s welcome. Beinart writes: “When Wilson disembarked, Europe’s battered masses . . . . Continue Reading »
Between Time Toward Home and his last book, American Babylon: Notes of a Christian Exile , Neuhaus converted to Catholicism. Whether as cause or result or some of each, the latter book gives ecclesiology a much higher and more satisfying profile. Neuhaus’s final work is marked by a recurring . . . . Continue Reading »
Neuhaus makes the cogent observation that American patriotism has been regularly refreshed by the influx of immigrants who find that the American dream is still realizable: “Perhaps taken-for-granted Americanism needs to be regularly refreshed by the Americanism of those who discover America . . . . Continue Reading »
Back in 1975, Richard Neuhaus wrote in Time Toward Home that “America is an imperial power,” elaborating that “Suppose we could drop from our history all our self-images, ideals, notions of destiny and everything else that makes up what we have called America’s public piety. . . . . Continue Reading »
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