The religious test : why we must question the beliefs of our leaders

Resource Information

The work The religious test : why we must question the beliefs of our leaders represents a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in University of Missouri-St. Louis Libraries. This resource is a combination of several types including: Work, Language Material, Books.

Label

The religious test : why we must question the beliefs of our leaders

Title remainder

why we must question the beliefs of our leaders

Statement of responsibility

Damon Linker

Creator

• Linker, Damon, 1969-

Subject

• Religion and politics -- United States
• Religious tolerance -- United States
• United States -- Religion

Language

eng

Summary

• "The freshest and most intellectually stimulating book on church and state to be published in some time."---Mark Lilla, author of The Stillborn God --
• The Constitution states that "no religious test" may keep a candidate from aspiring to political office. Yet, since John F. Kennedy used the phrase to deflect concerns about his Catholicism, the public has largely avoided probing candidates' religious beliefs. Is it true, however, that a candidate's religious convictions should be off-limits to public scrutiny? --
• Damon Linker doesn't think so, and here he outlines the various elements of religious belief---including radical atheism---that are simply incompatible with high office, and sometimes even active citizenship, in a democracy. He enlightens us to the complicated interrelations between churches and states, consistently applying a political litmus test to a range of theological views. He clearly explains, among other topics, why the government in a religiously tolerant society must not promote a uniform code of ethics and behavior; why the conviction that America is worthy of divine attention is dangerous; and why the liberal position on the political deregulation of sex is our nation's only hope for conciliation. --
• In this provocative, hard-hitting manifesto, Linker exhorts both believers and atheists to scrutinize carefully the leaders we all must share. --
• "A literate and stirring defense of pluralism as a prerequisite of decent politics....Deeply thoughtful."---Todd Gitlin, author of The Sixties and coauthor of The Chosen Peoples --
• "A sensitive, probing, and important new vision of the place of belief in an open and tolerant public square."---Isaac Kramnick, author of The Godless Constitution --Book Jacket

Cataloging source

DLC

Dewey number

201/.72

Index

index present

LC call number

BL2525

LC item number

.L554 2010

Literary form

non fiction

Nature of contents

bibliography