Liberty of Conscience: The Attack on America's Tradition of Religious Equality

Nussbaum, Martha

ISBN 10: 0465051642 / ISBN 13: 9780465051649

Published by Basic Books, 2008

About this Item

416 pages. 9.75x5.50x1.50 inches. In Stock.

Seller Inventory # 0465051642

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Liberty of Conscience: The Attack on America's Tradition of Religious Equality
• Publisher: Basic Books
• Publication Date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0465051642
• ISBN 13: 9780465051649
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Brand New
• Weight: 1.02 kilograms

About this title

Synopsis

In one of the great triumphs of the colonial and Revolutionary periods, the founders of the future United States overcame religious intolerance in favor of a constitutional order dedicated to fair treatment for people's deeply held conscientious beliefs. It granted equal liberty of conscience to all and took a firm stand against religious establishment. This respect for religious difference, acclaimed scholar Martha Nussbaum writes, formed our democracy. Yet today there are signs that this legacy is misunderstood. The prominence of a particular type of Christianity in our public life suggests the unequal worth of citizens who hold different religious beliefs, or no beliefs. Other people, meanwhile, seek to curtail the influence of religion in public life in a way that is itself unbalanced and unfair. Such partisan efforts, Nussbaum argues, violate the spirit of our Constitution. Liberty of Conscience is a historical and conceptual study of the American tradition of religious freedom. Weaving together political history, philosophical ideas, and key constitutional cases, this is a rich chronicle of an ideal of equality that has always been central to our history but is now in serious danger.

About the Author

Martha C. Nussbaum holds appointments in the Philosophy Department, Law School, and Divinity School at the University of Chicago. She is the author of thirteen previous books. Her Cultivating Humanity won the 2002 Grawemeyer Award for Education. She holds thirty honorary degrees from universities around the world. She lives in Chicago and Cambridge.