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The Right-Wing Assault on Religious Freedom
Harmony
October 2006
On Sale: October 3, 2006
272 pages ISBN: 0307346544 EAN: 9780307346544 Hardcover
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Non-Fiction Religion
The Reverend Barry Lynn explains why the Religious Right
has it all wrong.
In the wake of the 2004
presidential election, the Religious Right insisted that
George Bush had been handed a mandate for an ideology-based
social agenda, including the passage of a “marriage
amendment” to ban same-sex unions, diversion of tax money to
religious groups through “faith-based initiatives,” the
teaching of creationism in public schools, and restrictions
on abortion. Led by an aggressive band of television
preachers and extremist radio personalities, the Religious
Right set its sights on demolishing the wall of separation
between church and state.
The Reverend Barry Lynn is
a devout Christian, but this propaganda effort disturbs him
deeply. He argues that politicians need to stop looking to
the Bible to justify their actions and should consult
another source instead: the U.S. Constitution.
When
the Founding Fathers of our great nation created the
Constitution, they had seen firsthand the dangers of an
injudicious mix of religion and government. They knew what
it was like to live under the yoke of state-imposed faith.
They drew up a model for the new nation that would allow
absolute freedom of religion. They knew that religion,
united with the raw power of government, spawns
tyranny.
Yet the Religious Right now seems
distrustful of those principles inherent in the
Constitution, viewing the separation of church and state
only as a dangerous anti-Christian principle imposed upon
our nation. In reality, the separation between church and
state has been an important ally to religion: with the state
out of the picture, hundreds of religions have grown and
prospered. Religion doesn’t need the government’s
assistance, any more than it is practical or appropriate for
religious doctrine to be fostered in the government or
taught in public schools.
As an explicitly religious
figure speaking out against the Religious Right, Lynn has
incurred the wrath of such personalities as Pat Buchanan,
Jerry Falwell, and Pat Robertson, who once said Lynn was
“lower than a child molester.” Lynn has continuously taken
on these radicals of the Religious Right calmly and
rationally, using their own statements and religious fervor
to prove that when they attack the constitutionally mandated
separation, they’re actually attacking freedom of religion.
In Piety & Politics, the Reverend Barry
Lynn continues the fight—educating Americans about what is
at stake, explaining why it is crucial that we maintain the
separation of church and state, and galvanizing us to defend
the honor of our religious freedom.
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