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The Rise and Decline of American Religious Freedom

In good conscience I can concede, cheerfully, this much: the oft- told, much beloved story of religious freedom in America is not wholly false. In fact, the story contains a number of partial truths. And yet a collection of partial truths can combine, as we know, to make up a tale that is, in the ag...

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Main Author: Steven D. Smith
Format: eBook
Language: Bahasa Inggris
Published: Harvard University Press 2014
Subjects:
Freedom of religion— United States, Church and state— United States
Online Access: http://oaipmh-jogjalib.umy.ac.idkatalog.php?opo=lihatDetilKatalog&id=53041
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spelling oai:lib.umy.ac.id:530412021-06-16T13:06:27ZThe Rise and Decline of American Religious FreedomSteven D. SmithFreedom of religion— United States, Church and state— United StatesIn good conscience I can concede, cheerfully, this much: the oft- told, much beloved story of religious freedom in America is not wholly false. In fact, the story contains a number of partial truths. And yet a collection of partial truths can combine, as we know, to make up a tale that is, in the aggregate, profoundly misleading. As in this instance.The story of American religious freedom has been told in many places and many ways. But most of the venerable tellings include several or all of the following themes: 1. Americans as Enlightened innovators. When Americans committed themselves in their new Constitution to church- state separation and the free exercise of religion, they were initiating a novel and even radical “lively experiment.” Or so it is typically supposed. For centuries, under the pattern and practices of what we sometimes describe as “Christendom,” po liti cal and religious authorities had imposed religious orthodoxies on their subjects and had repressed dissent through laws punishing heresy, blasphemy, and apostasy. This orientation was on macabre display in the Inquisition and in the execution of presumed heretics, such as the defi ant En glish Protestants burned at the stake under Bloody Mary and celebrated in John Foxe’s legendary Book of Martyrs. The American found ers, freed up by the Enlightenment, boldly broke from this centuries- old pattern. They thereby achieved what the eminent historian of religion Sidney Mead described as “one of the two most profound revolutions that had occurred in the history of the church.”1 (The fi rst revolution, Mead thought, was the Constantinian revolution that had initiated Christendom fourteen centuries earlier. So the second revolution— the American one— in eff ect overthrew the fi rst, Christian revolution.)Harvard University Press2014eBookebook 605Bahasa Inggrishttp://oaipmh-jogjalib.umy.ac.idkatalog.php?opo=lihatDetilKatalog&id=53041
institution Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta
collection Perpustakaan Yogyakarta
language Bahasa Inggris
topic Freedom of religion— United States, Church and state— United States
spellingShingle Freedom of religion— United States, Church and state— United States
Steven D. Smith
The Rise and Decline of American Religious Freedom
description In good conscience I can concede, cheerfully, this much: the oft- told, much beloved story of religious freedom in America is not wholly false. In fact, the story contains a number of partial truths. And yet a collection of partial truths can combine, as we know, to make up a tale that is, in the aggregate, profoundly misleading. As in this instance.The story of American religious freedom has been told in many places and many ways. But most of the venerable tellings include several or all of the following themes: 1. Americans as Enlightened innovators. When Americans committed themselves in their new Constitution to church- state separation and the free exercise of religion, they were initiating a novel and even radical “lively experiment.” Or so it is typically supposed. For centuries, under the pattern and practices of what we sometimes describe as “Christendom,” po liti cal and religious authorities had imposed religious orthodoxies on their subjects and had repressed dissent through laws punishing heresy, blasphemy, and apostasy. This orientation was on macabre display in the Inquisition and in the execution of presumed heretics, such as the defi ant En glish Protestants burned at the stake under Bloody Mary and celebrated in John Foxe’s legendary Book of Martyrs. The American found ers, freed up by the Enlightenment, boldly broke from this centuries- old pattern. They thereby achieved what the eminent historian of religion Sidney Mead described as “one of the two most profound revolutions that had occurred in the history of the church.”1 (The fi rst revolution, Mead thought, was the Constantinian revolution that had initiated Christendom fourteen centuries earlier. So the second revolution— the American one— in eff ect overthrew the fi rst, Christian revolution.)
format eBook
author Steven D. Smith
author_sort Steven D. Smith
title The Rise and Decline of American Religious Freedom
title_short The Rise and Decline of American Religious Freedom
title_full The Rise and Decline of American Religious Freedom
title_fullStr The Rise and Decline of American Religious Freedom
title_full_unstemmed The Rise and Decline of American Religious Freedom
title_sort rise and decline of american religious freedom
publisher Harvard University Press
publishDate 2014
url http://oaipmh-jogjalib.umy.ac.idkatalog.php?opo=lihatDetilKatalog&id=53041
isbn ebook 605
_version_ 1702748869808357376
score 14.79448

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