The Clash of Orthodoxies: Law, Religion, and Morality in Crisis - Softcover

George, Robert P.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1882926943 ISBN 13: 9781882926947

Publisher: ISI Books, 2002

Synopsis

In The Clash of Orthodoxies: Law, Religion, and Morality in Crisis, Robert George tackles the issues at the heart of the contemporary conflict of worldviews. Challenging liberalism's claim to represent the triumph of reason, George argues that on controversial issues like abortion, embryonic stem-cell research, euthanasia, same-sex unions, civil rights and liberties, and the place of religion in public life, traditional Judeo-Christian beliefs are rationally superior to their secular liberal alternatives. Robert P. George is one of the most incisive legal and moral thinkers working today...-First Things [A]ll the essays are aimed at a nontechnical audience, and in them the reader gets to watch a fascinating mind at work: brilliant, of course, and learned, but, above all, tenacious. Robert George is the bulldog of American intellectuals-grasping hold of a topic and refusing to let

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

It is a common supposition among many of our cultural elites that a constitutional "wall of separation" between church and state precludes religious believers from bringing their beliefs to bear on public matters. This is because secular liberals typically assume that their own positions on morally charged issues of public policy are the fruit of pure reason, while those of their morally conservative opponents reflect an irrational religious faith. In The Clash of Orthodoxies: Law, Religion, and Morality in Crisis, Princeton political theorist Robert P. George shows that this supposition is wrong on both counts. Challenging liberalism's claim to represent the triumph of reason, George argues that on controversial issues like embryonic stem-cell research, abortion, euthanasia, homosexuality, and same-sex marriage, traditional Judeo-Christian beliefs are actually rationally superior to secular liberal alternatives. Drawing on the natural law philosophical tradition, George demolishes various secularist pretenses, such as the notion that the very young and very old among us are somehow subpersonal and not worthy of full legal protection. He reveals the dubious person-body dualism implicit in secularist arguments, and he demonstrates the flawed reasoning behind the idea that the state ought to be neutral regarding competing understandings of the nature and value of marriage. George also revisits the controversy surrounding his participation in the First Things "End of Democracy?" symposium, in which he considered the relevance of Catholic teachings regarding the legitimacy of political regimes to the contemporary American situation. George argues that because natural law and natural rights doctrine lie at the foundation of the American republic, the judicial reading of the Constitution that has undermined democracy in order to enshrine the secularist agenda is deeply flawed. In advancing his thesis, George argues for a return to old-fashioned liberalism, a worldview that he claims is best exemplified by Pope John Paul II, whose teachings laud democracy, religious liberty, and economic freedom while also recognizing the demands of civil rights, social and economic justice, and the principle of subsidiarity. These demands restrain Catholics--and indeed all people of faith--from making personal freedom an absolute, and George takes to task those political leaders who, though believers, have denied or ignored the political responsibility this entails. The Clash of Orthodoxies is a profoundly important contribution to our contemporary national conversation about the proper role of religion in politics. The lucid and persuasive prose of Robert George, one of America's most prominent public intellectuals, will shock secular liberals out of an unwarranted complacency and provide powerful ammunition for embattled defenders of traditional morality.

About the Author:

Robert P. George is McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University. He is a former Presidential Appointee to the United States Commission on Civil Rights, and he served as a Judicial Fellow at the Supreme Court of the United States, where he received the 1990 Justice Tom C. Clark Award. A graduate of Swarthmore College and Harvard Law School, Professor George earned his doctorate in legal philosophy from Oxford University. His earlier books include Making Men Moral: Civil Liberties and Public Morality (Oxford University Press, 1993) and In Defense of Natural Law (Clarendon Press, 1999). John DiIulio is Special Assistant to the President and Director of the White House Office of Faith Based and Community Initiatives.

About this edition

• Publisher: ISI Books
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 1882926943
• ISBN 13: 9781882926947
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 420