The first liberty : America's foundation in religious freedom / William Lee Miller.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Miller, William Lee.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Freedom of religion--United States--History--19th century.

Freedom of religion.

Freedom of religion--United States--History--20th century.

History.

United States--Church history--To 1775.

United States.

Church history.

United States--Church history--19th century.

Physical Description:

xii, 280 pages ; 24 cm

Edition:

Expanded and updated.

Place of Publication:

Washington, D.C. : Georgetown University Press, [2003]

Summary:

The concept of religion-based politics has taken on new and sometimes ominous tones -- even within the United States. In revisiting his prescient and influential first edition of The First Liberty, William Lee Miller has written a pointed new introduction, discussing how religious liberty has fathomed new depths in a post-9/11 world. Along with new material on recent Supreme Court cases involving church-state relations, and a new concluding chapter on America's religious and political landscape, this volume is an eloquent and thorough interpretation of how religious faith and political freedom continue to intermingle -- and most importantly, how each must respect the boundary of the other.

Though many claim the United States to be a "Christian Nation," Miller reveals the true philosophical and political scaffolding that helped to build the famous "wall of separation" between church and state. Miller traces this fundamental American principle through the three great standard-bearers of religious liberty: Jefferson, Madison, and Roger Williams. Jefferson, who wrote the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, the precursor of the First Amendment of the Constitution; James Madison, who was politically responsible for Virginia's acceptance of religious liberty and who, a few years later, helped draft the Bill of Rights; and the even earlier figure, the radical dissenter Roger Williams, who propounded the idea of religious freedom not as a rational secularist but out of a deeply held spiritual faith.

The debate these founders began continues today in passionate arguments about civil rights, school prayer, abortion, Christmas creches, conscientious objection during warfare -- and demonstrates how the right to hold any religious belief, including atheism, has dynamically shaped American political life.

Contents:

Part 1 Bill Number 82 1

Part 2 The Vocation of James Madison 69

Part 3 This Conscience Is Found in All Mankind 127

Part 4 A Fixed Star in Our Constitutional Constellation 187

Part 5 Concluding Notes on Liberty Shaping a Culture 233

Appendix A Thomas Jefferson, A Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom, 1777 255

Appendix B James Madison, Memorial and Remonstrance 257.

Notes:

Originally published: New York : Knopf, 1986.

Includes index.

ISBN:

0878408991

OCLC:

50604909