tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post3434229521566358737..comments2024-03-26T11:33:59.219-06:00Comments on Religion in American History: Office for the Cultivation of "Beautiful Flowers from the Same Garden: A Reflection on the State Department's Office of Faith-Based Community InitiativesPaul Harveyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13881964303772343114noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post-19283008552716739272013-08-29T11:32:00.957-06:002013-08-29T11:32:00.957-06:00Thanks for the reply, Cara. I'm looking forwa...Thanks for the reply, Cara. I'm looking forward to your book all the more now!Mark T. Edwardshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13687874101232569510noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post-9325959786264628782013-08-28T13:14:15.732-06:002013-08-28T13:14:15.732-06:00Thanks, Mark!
In my work I actually challenge the...Thanks, Mark!<br /><br />In my work I actually challenge the narrative you're pointing to above. While Wilson certainly was a Presbyterian and his faith influenced him, his *particular* Presbyterianism is often misunderstood. There is evidence that his administration, with his leadership not counter to it, sought to cultivate the kind of relationships you refer to as "post-Protestant." Changes to the chaplaincy and efforts to quell anti-Catholicism (despite his own latent anti-Catholicism) are two examples. Josephus Daniels, Joseph Tumulty, and NCCJ co-chair Newton Baker are three former Wilson administration insiders who work diligently in this regard through the interwar period. Connecting Eisenhower and Truman's efforts to this longer narrative, I think, helps to explain how the "post-Protestant" character is often a veneer.Cara Burnidgehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11352644751882154323noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post-76647645426064430092013-08-27T17:34:47.103-06:002013-08-27T17:34:47.103-06:002. Religion as [exclusively] synonymous with "...<i>2. Religion as [exclusively] synonymous with "morality" or "virtue": The operating assumption of this office and the State Department generally is that all religions are "good" and exist to promote the "common good" [what that is we somehow intuitively know as a result of human nature].</i><br /><br />The use of "exclusively" strikes me as an unnecessary bone in the throat.<br /><br />It would be quite a threat to post-19th century currents of Supreme Court jurisprudence if "religion" were seen as self-evidently contributing to the common good*, placing Justice Berger's creation of the "Lemon Test" in <i>Lemon v. Kurtzmann</i><br /><br /><i>Three ... tests may be gleaned from our cases. First, the statute must have a secular legislative purpose; second, its principal or primary effect must be one that neither advances nor inhibits religion; finally, the statute must not foster an excessive government entanglement with religion.</i><br /><br />into renewed question. Of Berger's 3rd prong of the Lemon Test, there is little controversy. However, if "religion" is good for the republic, then "neutrality" between religion and irreligion is not quite what the First Amendment was after, accommodation of <i>all</i> religions was.<br /><br />IOW, they believed that "religion" indeed served a "secular" purpose.<br />_________<br />*GWash, Farewell Address<br /><br /><i>Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked: Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice ? And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.</i><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Tom Van Dykehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07121072404143877596noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37589721331585843.post-80120295163479638022013-08-27T12:28:18.829-06:002013-08-27T12:28:18.829-06:00Very helpful summary and reflections here, Cara, a...Very helpful summary and reflections here, Cara, and CONGRATS on your graduation!<br /><br />As far as historical precedents for Kerry's new office, Harry Truman's imagined interfaith front against communism is a big turning point (Wilson's Presbyterianism kept getting in the way of a post-Protestant effort like Truman's). Truman not only tried to reconcile American Jewish leaders, the Vatican, and the World Council of Churches, but he also expected that Hindus and Muslims would side with him. Truman's front has been covered quite well by Dianne Kirby (see here edited collection, Religion and the Cold War), by William Inboden in The Soul of Containment, and by Andrew Preston in Sword of the Spirit, Shield of Faith.Mark T. Edwardshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13687874101232569510noreply@blogger.com