American religion, American politics: an anthology

272 Pages·2018·2.036 MB·English

by  Kosek, Joseph Kip

American Religion,
American Politics
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American Religion,
American Politics
An Anthology
Edited by
Joseph Kip Kosek
With a foreword by Jon Butler
New Haven and London
Published with assistance from the foundation established in memory of
Amasa Stone Mather of the Class of 1907, Yale College.
Copyright © 2017 by Joseph Kip Kosek.
Foreword copyright © 2017 by Jon Butler.
All rights reserved.
This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, including illustrations, in any form
(beyond that copying permitted by Sections 107 and 108 of the U.S. Copyright Law and
except by reviewers for the public press), without written permission from the publishers.
Yale University Press books may be purchased in quantity for educational, business, or
promotional use. For information, please e-mail [email protected] (U.S. offi ce) or
[email protected] (U.K. offi ce).
Set in Sabon type by Newgen North America.
Printed in the United States of America.
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016956026
ISBN: 978-0-300-20351-6 (paperback : alk. paper)
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (Permanence of Paper).
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For Ellie, Charlotte, and Theo
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Contents
Foreword by Jon Butler ix
Acknowledgments xiii
Introduction 1
1. RELIGIOUS ESTABLISHMENT AND RELIGIOUS FREEDOM IN
EARLY AMERICA 6
John Winthrop, “A Modell of Christian Charity” (1630) 7
Maryland Act Concerning Religion (1649) 13
William Penn, Frame of Government of Pennsylvania and Laws
Agreed Upon in England (1682) 17
James Madison, “Memorial and Remonstrance against Religious
Assessments” (1785) 21
Thomas Jefferson, Act for Establishing Religious Freedom in
Virginia (1786) 28
2. SLAVERY AND THE CIVIL WAR 31
Frederick Douglass, “Love of God, Love of Man, Love of
Country” (1847) 32
George Armstrong, The Christian Doctrine of
Slavery (1857) 41
Julia Ward Howe, “Battle Hymn of the Republic” (1862) 49
Abraham Lincoln, Second Inaugural Address (1865) 51
3. MODERNIZING AMERICA 55
Reynolds v. United States (1878) 56
Pittsburgh Platform of Reform Judaism (1885) 62
Frances Willard, Woman in the Pulpit (1888) 64
Elizabeth Cady Stanton, The Woman’s Bible (1895) 73
viii Contents
W. E. B. Du Bois, “Of the Faith of the Fathers” (1903) 78
Walter Rauschenbusch, Christianity and the Social Crisis
(1907) 89
William Jennings Bryan, “Mr. Bryan’s Last Speech” (1925) 95
4. FAITH, FREEDOM, AND THE MEANING OF CITIZENSHIP 114
Reinhold Niebuhr, “Why the Christian Church Is Not Pacifi st”
(1940) 115
Dorothy Day, “Wars Are Caused by Man’s Loss of His Faith in
Man” (1940) 130
Jehovah’s Witness Flag Salute Cases: Gobitis (1940) and Barnette
(1943) 134
George Docherty, “A New Birth of Freedom” (1954) 146
5. SOCIAL MOVEMENTS AND SPIRITUAL DIVERSITY 154
John F. Kennedy, “Address to the Greater Houston Ministerial
Association” (1960) 155
Martin Luther King, Jr., “Letter from Birmingham Jail”
(1963) 159
Jerry Falwell, “Ministers and Marches” (1965) 170
Abraham Heschel, “The Moral Outrage of Vietnam” (1967) 178
Mary Daly, Beyond God the Father (1973) 186
6. THE RELIGIOUS RIGHT AND ITS CRITICS 197
Engel v. Vitale (1962) 198
Phyllis Schlafl y, The Power of the Positive Woman (1977) 206
Francis Schaeffer, A Christian Manifesto (1981) 211
John Shelby Spong, “Blessing Gay and Lesbian Commitments”
(1988) 219
Employment Division v. Smith (1990) 226
7. GLOBAL RELIGION, GLOBAL POLITICS 231
George W. Bush, “Freedom at War with Fear” (2001) 232
Ingrid Mattson, “American Muslims Have a ‘Special Obligation’”
(2001) 236
Sam Harris, The End of Faith (2004) 240
Wendell Berry, “Faustian Economics” (2008) 246
Foreword
Jon Butler
Religion and politics were the subjects you weren’t supposed
to bring up at Thanksgiving dinner. Why not? Aren’t they the
most interesting, the topics that provoke the most discussion,
the ones that get the juices fl owing?
Those are the reasons, of course.
Still, why, and why in America? Don’t we have separation of church
and state?
William James, the American philosopher, explained why religion
raised the discussion stakes. Religion concerns “the inner dispositions
of man . . . his conscience, his deserts, his helplessness, his incomplete-
ness.” It is “the primordial thing.”
Virginia’s James Madison, the Founding Father and fourth presi-
dent of the United States, explained why politics roiled discussions.
Politics beget government, “the essence of Government is power, and
power, lodged as it must be in human hands, will ever be liable to
abuse.”
James and Madison describe the implications of religion and poli-
tics, but what do we mean by “religion” and by “politics”? The con-
cepts have never not been debated, and modern scholars have only
added new voices to old. James helps on a conception of religion.
He described it as the “feelings, acts, and experiences” individuals
have “in relation to whatever they may consider the divine.” And the
divine? Some would describe it as the transcendent, that which is per-
manent, timeless, standing outside and beyond the human, God.
Politics? It is far more than government, which is just its modern
instrument. The classic concept comes from Aristotle’s treatise, Poli-
tics. For Aristotle, it concerned what the Greeks called the “polis,” the
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