Blasphemy : how the religious right is hijacking our Declaration of Independence / Alan Dershowitz.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Dershowitz, Alan M.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Christianity and politics--United States--History--18th century.

Christianity and politics.

United States. Declaration of Independence--Signers--Religious life.

United States.

Christian conservatism--United States.

Christian conservatism.

History.

Physical Description:

ix, 195 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Hoboken, N.J. : John Wiley & Sons, [2007]

Summary:

The religious right is forthright about its goal to Christianize America. The primary weapon in their crusade is, quite ironically, the Declaration of Independence, arguing that it proves the United States was founded on Biblical law. It's more than ironic that the Declaration, of all documents, written by Jefferson, of all of our founders, should be invoked in favor of a Christian America and against the separation of church and state. In this book, Alan Dershowitz proves conclusively that there is absolutely no relation between the Declaration's "Creator" and "Nature's God," on the one hand, and Judeo-Christian God of the Old and New Testaments on the other hand. He provides the documentation to disprove the distortion of our history that today plays a central role in the debate over the Declaration of Independence and the desire of the religious right to misuse it as a weapon of mass distraction in their effort to Christianize America.

Contents:

Introduction: Is the United States a Christian Nation? 1

1 The God of the Declaration: Is He the God of Today's Christian Right? 11

2 The Christian Right's Strategy to Turn the Declaration into a Baptismal Certificate 77

3 What Are "the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God"? 123

Appendix The Declaration of Independence 167.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 173-186) and index.

ISBN:

9780470084557

0470084553

OCLC:

76961169