Title
Nonbeliever nation : the rise of secular Americans / David Niose.
Edition
First edition
ISBN
9780230338951
023033895X
Published
New York, NY : Palgrave Macmillan, 2012.
Copyright
©2012
Language
English
Description
262 pages ; 25 cm
Call Number
BL2760 .N563 2012
Dewey Decimal Classification
211/.60973
Summary
"Today's culture wars are more heated than ever. Education, public policy, and the separation between church and state have become a battlefield, and many are frustrated with the success the Religious Right has had in shaping the national agenda, from putting the brakes on gay marriage in California to stripping textbooks in Texas of references to Thomas Jefferson. But today, a growing nonreligious minority, nearly 20 percent of Americans, are finally organizing and taking explicit political positions. In Nonbeliever Nation, David Niose argues that America was never in fact a Christian nation and shows how the Religious Right successfully took control of the social and political narrative. He takes us across the country to meet the secular groups now forming in opposition to that force--from humanist gatherings to the rise of the New Atheists to the explosion of secular groups on college and even high school campuses. Niose discusses their political goals, including lobbying efforts, legal strategies, and outreach through advertising and education, and what still needs to be done to make the secular voice a gamechanger in American politics"-- Provided by publisher.
Note
Includes index.
Bibliography, etc. Note
Includes bibliographical references and index.
The decline of the America dialogue
The wedding invitation
A religious people?
A secular heritage
Secularity and morality
The disaster of the religious right
Better late than never : secular Americans emerge
Reason for hope and hope for reason
When "happy holidays" is an act of hostility
A new plan of action
A secular future
Another wedding
Appendix. Secular Coalition for America's 2011 Congressional report card.
