Americas Religious Wars

How American conflicts about religion have always symbolized our foundational political values When Americans fight about religion, we are also fighting about our conflicting identities, interests, and commitments. Religion-talk has been a ready vehicle for these conflicts because it is built on enduring contradictions within our core political values. The Constitution treats religion as something to be confined behind a wall, but in public communications, the Framers treated religion as the foundation of the American republic. Ever since, Americans have translated disagreements on many other issues into an endless debate about the role of religion in our public life. Built around a set of compelling narrativesGeorge Washingtons battle with Quaker pacifists; the fight of Mormons and Catholics for equality with Protestants; Teddy Roosevelts concept of land versus the Lakotas concept; the creation-evolution controversy; and the struggle over sexualitythis book shows how religion, throughout American history, has symbolized, but never resolved, our deepest political questions.