About This Book
The author argues that organized religion and a secular republican constitution pursue incompatible ends—religious authority seeking obedience to God can conflict with a government founded to protect citizens' rights. He maintains that devout officeholders confront divided loyalties and that clerical political power has repeatedly subverted constitutional principles. Drawing on historical episodes in France where church support of temporal rulers preceded a harsh church–state struggle, he criticizes clericalism's political ambitions and urges Americans to safeguard the separation of church and state to maintain constitutional secularism.
About the Author
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