Wednesday, February 7, 2007
Debate description coming soon.
For
Susan Jacoby
Author
For
Rev. Barry W. Lynn
Executive Director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State
For
Alan Wolfe
Professor of Political Science and Director of the Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life at Boston College
Against
Jean Bethke Elshtain
Laura Spelman Rockefeller Professor of Social and Political Ethics at the University of Chicago
Against
William A. Galston
Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution
Against
Albert J. Raboteau
Henry W. Putnam Chair in Religion at Princeton University
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Susan Jacoby
Author
Susan has written several books including Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism and Wild Justice: The Evolution of Revenge, a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 1984. Jacoby’s articles and essays have appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, Harper’s, and the New Republic, among other publications.
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Rev. Barry W. Lynn
Executive Director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State
Rev. Barry has been the executive director of Americans United since 1992. A long-time civil liberties attorney and ordained minister, Lynn is a frequent guest on television and radio talk and news programs. His daily talk show, “Culture Shocks”, is heard on radio stations around the country. Lynn is the author of book Piety & Politics: The Right Wing Assault on Religious Freedom, which was released in October 2006.
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Alan Wolfe
Professor of Political Science and Director of the Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life at Boston College
Alan's books include Does American Democracy Still Work? and The Transformation of American Religion: How We Actually Practice Our Faith. He currently chairs a task force of the American Political Science Association on "Religion and Democracy in the United States."
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Jean Bethke Elshtain
Laura Spelman Rockefeller Professor of Social and Political Ethics at the University of Chicago
Jean is a political philosopher. Her books include Public Man, Private Woman: Women in Social Thought, The Family in Political Thought, and Democracy on Trial. In 2006, she was appointed by President George W. Bush to the Council of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
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William A. Galston
Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution
Prior to 2006, William was a professor at the School of Public Policy, University of Maryland; director of the Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy; and founding director of the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement. From 1993 until 1995, Galston served as deputy assistant to President Clinton for Domestic Policy.
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Albert J. Raboteau
Henry W. Putnam Chair in Religion at Princeton University
Albert specializes in religion in America, teaching and researching in the areas of African-American religious history, Roman Catholicism in America, and religion and social reform. He has served as chair of his department and dean of the Graduate School at Princeton. His publications include Slave Religion, A Fire in the Bones, Canaan Land, and A Sorrowful Joy.
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2 comments
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Friday, 03 May 2013 16:04 posted by Trevor G On the question if the commonplace Christian religion is an overall good or ill effect in American society, it seems to bear noting that the religious have historically been among the most active combatants on BOTH sides of each issue. Slavery, war, and civil rights leaders did indeed very often have strong religious sentiments even if they focused on non-religious arguments.
It bears noting, however, that the non-religious elements tend to side largely with one side of the the religious, the same side that has gained the most popular approval over time. The non-religious are now far more likely to be on the "right" side of civil rights issues, even if they do not feel as compelled to go out and argue loudly in the public forum.
Now, if the opposing side was largely wiped out without their religion, or lost much fervor because they no longer believed their prejudices, biases, and ignorance to be directed by God, what would the effect be?
Women's and gay rights are being largely pushed by the non-religious. Economic concerns, embodied by the Occupy movement, are largely non-religious, and so forth. The atheists were far less likely to support the recent wars, and more likely to support government welfare programs. If vast swathes of the country stopped arguing so vehemently against these positions, would there be need of counter-preachers to win them over?
One could therefore submit that all the arguments in favor of the good fights of religion are largely fights within itself, fueled by its own propensities. The hero worship paid to certain religiously inspired leaders is not worth the collateral damage to people's lives due to the "damn religion" they were fighting. - Comment Link
Wednesday, 06 February 2013 12:00 posted by John Hurd Dr. Elshtain invokes the names of Martin Luther King, who obviously did great good while a man of the cloth. But wait -- America was full of ministers who endorsed slavery for hundreds of years! Why didn't she mention that? I'm sure many slave-owners went to Church and prayed regularly. Let's not cherry-pick, Dr. Elshtain.
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