Political Pulpit Revisited

The Political Pulpit Revisited examines a set of arguments originally made in 1975 about church-state relations in the U.S. Scholars have long wondered how a nation of some two thousand different religious denominations has been able to remain relatively calm about such matters. Controversial issues like abortion rights, war-time pacifism, sanctuary for illegal aliens, clerical abuse of children, non-taxation of church property, and other matters continually roil the political waters. The first edition describes how church and state tensions are worked out symbolically rather than coercively, legally, or economically. The Political Pulpit Revisited updates church/state arguments and then offers reflections by eight distinguished scholars who re-examine the relationship in light of recent events. The result is a fresh look at the American experiment in those relations and what it portends for the U.S. in the years ahead.