Please Don't Wish Me a Merry Christmas: A Critical History of the Separation of Church and State: 30 (Critical America) - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0814726844 ISBN 13: 9780814726846

Publisher: NYU Press, 1998

Synopsis

Marshalling a body of evidence which consists mainly of legal cases, this work sets out to show that the separation of Church and State is invoked to further Christian domination of American society. The book contains material of interest to scholars of Church history, Jewish persecution, normative political theory and constitutional law, and and its historical sweep extends from the beginnings of Christianity to the late-20th century.

About this title

From the Author:

My purposes and motivations in writing this book.
This book is a scholarly work--as the subtitle states, it is a critical history of the separation of church and state--but it was a book that I was intensely driven to write, as suggested by the personal anecdotes in the introduction and conclusion. My purpose is to refute the dominant story of the separation of church and state, which asserts that all Americans equally enjoy religious liberty and that the separation of church and state is a unique American contribution to political theory. Contrary to this dominant story, I show that the separation of church and state has evolved over the last two millennia and that, in America, the separation of church and state facilitates Christian cultural imperialism. The title, Please Don't Wish Me a Merry Christmas, is derived from the last line in the book. I had settled on this phrase as the concluding line when I first started working on the manuscript. It captures how I often feel during the Holiday season (which Holiday is that?) after I have been wished a Merry Christmas for the 500th time (and it's still November!). I welcome comments about the book (send to stephen-feldman@utulsa.edu).

From the Back Cover:

Nearly all discussions regarding the role of religion in American life build on two dominant assumptions: first, the separation of church and state is a constitutional principle that promotes democracy and equally protects the religious freedom of all Americans, especially religious outgroups; and second, this principle emerges as a uniquely American contribution to political theory. In Please Don't Wish Me a Merry Christmas, Stephen M. Feldman challenges both these assumptions. He argues that the separation of church and state primarily manifests and reinforces Christian domination in American society. Furthermore, Feldman reveals that the separation of church and state did not first arise in America, either at the time of the constitutional framing or later. In challenging the dominant story of the separation of church and state, Please Don't Wish Me a Merry Christmas follows the historical path of two institutions - the Christian church and the state - from the origins of Christianity forward to the present day. Feldman thus focuses on the workings of power in a specific context: he interprets the development of Christian social power vis-a-vis the state and religious minorities, particularly the prototypical religious outgroup, Jews.

About this edition

• Publisher: NYU Press
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0814726844
• ISBN 13: 9780814726846
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 408
• Editor: Feldman Stephen M.