Religious pluralism in America : the contentious history of a founding ideal / William R. Hutchison.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hutchison, William R.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Religious pluralism--United States--History.

Religious pluralism.

United States--Religion.

United States.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (288 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

New Haven : Yale University Press, c2003.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Religious toleration is enshrined as an ideal in our Constitution, but religious diversity has had a complicated history in the United States. Although Americans have taken justifiable pride in the rich array of religious faiths that help define our nation, for two centuries we have been grappling with the question of how we can coexist.In this ambitious reappraisal of American religious history, William Hutchison chronicles the country's struggle to fulfill the promise of its founding ideals. In 1800 the United States was an overwhelmingly Protestant nation. Over the next two centuries, Catholics, Mormons, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, and others would emerge to challenge the Protestant mainstream. Although their demands were often met with resistance, Hutchison demonstrates that as a result of these conflicts we have expanded our understanding of what it means to be a religiously diverse country. No longer satisfied with mere legal toleration, we now expect that all religious groups will share in creating our national agenda.This book offers a groundbreaking and timely history of our efforts to become one nation under multiple gods.

Contents:

Introduction : religious pluralism as a work in progress

Here are no disputes : reputation and realities in the new republic

Just behave yourself : pluralism as selective tolerance

Marching to Zion : the Protestant establishment as a unifying force

Repentance for our social sins : adjustments within the establishment

In (partway) from the margins : pluralism as inclusion

Surviving a while longer : the establishment under stress in the early twentieth century

Don't change your name : early assaults on the melting pot ideal

Protestant-Catholic-Jew : new mainstream, gropings toward a new pluralism

Whose America is it anyway? : the sixties and after.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. [257]-262) and index.

ISBN:

9786611730376

9781281730374

1281730378

9780300129571

0300129572

OCLC:

952731844