The Challenge of Pluralism: Church and State in Five Democracies - Softcover

Stephen V. Monsma, .

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0742554171 ISBN 13: 9780742554177

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2008

Synopsis

Now in a thoroughly revised and updated edition, this essential text offers a rigorous, systematic comparison of church-state relations in the United States, Australia, the Netherlands, Germany, and England. As successful and stable political democracies, these five countries share a commitment to protecting the religious rights of their citizens. Yet as the book demonstrates, each has taken substantially different approaches to resolving basic church-state questions. Stephen V. Monsma and J. Christopher Soper examine the historical roots of those differences and explain how each state addresses contemporary church-state issues. The authors judge each government's success in protecting the religious rights of its citizens using a framework based on the ideal of governmental neutrality or evenhandedness toward people of all faiths and of none.

Providing clarity on the little-understood, evolving relationship between church and state in the West, this book provides an invaluable comparative analysis of a topic that is increasingly a source of profound political and social conflict. Monsma and Soper conclude that the American conception of church-state separation, with its traditional emphasis on avoiding government establishment of religion, actually discriminates against religious groups by denying access to government services provided to other organizations. The authors persuasively argue that the United States can learn a great deal from other Western nations in promoting religious neutrality and the free exercise of religion.

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Review

Praise for the First Edition An eye-opener.....--Hans-Martien ten Napel "Acta Politica "

Praise for the First EditionMonsma and Soper's project opens up the possibility and vitality of constructive religion in American public life.--Tokunbo Adelekan "Journal For The Social Scientific Study Of Religion "

Praise for the First EditionAn eye-opener.--Hans-Martien ten Napel "Acta Politica "

Praise for the First EditionThe argument of the book is not why America is right, but on the contrary, why the other democracies do it better. The methodology is comparative only after the historical evolution of church-state relationships in each society has been examined with some subtlety. It is a model of a worthwhile comparative study.--Michael Hogan "Australian Journal Of Political Science "

Praise for the First EditionThe Challenge of Pluralism is a genuine comparative study undertaken by two political scientists surveying church-state relations and it brings together a great deal of valuable historical, legal, and other information relevant to its subject.--John T. S. Madeley "West European Politics "

Praise for the First EditionMonsma and Soper provide one of the most detailed and best studies of the range of church-state relations in different liberal democracies. They explode the myth of church-state separation in several countries of Europe and make a persuasive case for allowing religion greater space in the public arena than exists in America.--Anthony Gill, author of"Rendering Unto Caesar: The Catholi

Praise for the First EditionMarvelous. The authors perform the rare and difficult feat of generating a genuinely cross-national analysis, while paying strict, detailed attention to the nuances of each country. This book will change the manner in which church-state relations are contested in the United States and is required reading for anyone, at any level.--Jelen, Ted G.

Praise for the First EditionAs a sourcebook, this volume is without peer. The authors have donea fine job of assembling a remarkable array of material and fashioning it into a coherent whole. The Challenge of Pluralism offers a series of well-executed portraits of five nations that attempt to harmonize the religious sentiments of their citizens with the demands of public policy.--Wald, Kenneth D. "Public Policy "

Praise for the First EditionAn exceptionally illuminating book...this volume is, in short, an excellent piece of scholarship and deserves a wide readership.--George Moyser "Journal Of Church and State "

Praise for the First Edition The Challenge of Pluralism is a genuine comparative study undertaken by two political scientists surveying church-state relations and it brings together a great deal of valuable historical, legal, and other information relevant to its subject.--John T. S. Madeley "West European Politics "

About the Author

Stephen V. Monsma is research fellow in the Paul Henry Institute at Calvin College and emeritus professor of political science at Pepperdine University. J. Christopher Soper is Blanche E. Seaver Professor of Political Science at Pepperdine University.

About this edition

• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0742554171
• ISBN 13: 9780742554177
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 280