Attack of the Theocrats!: How the Religious Right Harms Us All-and What We Can Do About It

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Overview

At no time in history has the United States had such a high percentage of theocratic members of Congress—those who expressly endorse religious bias in law. Just as ominously, especially for those who share the values and views of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, at no other time have religious fundamentalists effectively had veto power over one of the country’s two major political parties. As Sean Faircloth argues in this deeply sobering yet highly engaging book, this has led to the crumbling of the country’s ...

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More About This Book

Overview

At no time in history has the United States had such a high percentage of theocratic members of Congress—those who expressly endorse religious bias in law. Just as ominously, especially for those who share the values and views of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, at no other time have religious fundamentalists effectively had veto power over one of the country’s two major political parties. As Sean Faircloth argues in this deeply sobering yet highly engaging book, this has led to the crumbling of the country’s most cherished founding principle—the wall of separation between church and state. While much of the public debate in the United States over church-state issues has focused on the construction of nativity scenes in town squares and the addition of “under God” to the Pledge, Faircloth, a former politician, moves beyond the symbolism to explore the many ways federal and state legal codes privilege religion in law. He demonstrates in vivid detail how religious bias in law harms all Americans—financially, militarily, physically, socially, and educationally—and directs special attention to the outlandish words, views, and policy proposals of the most theocratic members of Congress, a group he labels the Fundamentalist Fifty. Sounding a much-needed alarm for all who care about the future direction of the country, Faircloth concludes by offering an inspiring ten-point vision of an America returned to its secular roots and by providing a specific and sensible plan for realizing this vision. Both his vision and his plan remember and remind that the United States is, above all else, one nation under the Constitution.

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Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher
"I've devoted the last twenty years of my professional life to pointing out unscientific assertions that harm or swindle innocent people. It becomes particularly insidious when unsound reasoning is used to justify and apply unjust laws. This book describes this very real problem in America today, then offers a bold plan to do something about it."
—James Randi, founder of the James Randi Educational Foundation

"Sean Faircloth is doing such important work. There's not a doubt in my mind that if he was (suddenly, inexplicably) zapped back in time to meet Thomas Jefferson, that the Founding Father would clap him on the shoulder and say 'Thanks.'"
—Adam Savage, co-host of MythBusters

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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780984493241
  • Publisher: Pitchstone Publishing
  • Publication date: 2/15/2012
  • Pages: 168
  • Sales rank: 496,856
  • Product dimensions: 6.10 (w) x 9.00 (h) x 0.80 (d)

Meet the Author

Sean Faircloth is the Director of Strategy and Policy for the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science. Faircloth speaks around the nation on the Constitution, separation of church and state, and secular strategy. He successfully initiated the Secular Decade plan at the Secular Coalition for America, where he served as Executive Director. Faircloth also served for a decade in the Maine legislature, successfully spearheading over thirty laws. In his last term in office, Faircloth was elected Majority Whip by his caucus colleagues.

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Table of Contents

Foreword Richard Dawkins 9

Preface 15

1 Introduction: The Crumbled Wall between Church and State 23

2 Our Secular Heritage: One Nation under the Constitution 30

3 Religious Bias in Law Harms Us All 42

4 Genital Morality vs. Real Morality 65

5 Two American Traditions: Religious Hucksters and Secular Innovators 78

6 The Theocrats (aka the Fundamentalist Fifty) 91

7 The Secularists 108

8 Secularism-Born Again 111

9 Our Secular Decade: A Strategic Plan 119

10 A Vision of a Secular America 133

Afterword 142

Acknowledgments 148

Selected Bibliography 151

Index 153

About the Author 165

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Customer Reviews

Average Rating 4
( 10 )
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Sort by: Showing all of 10 Customer Reviews

  • Anonymous

    Posted January 12, 2012

    Decent read

    Well, a little dry, and not a ton of new information for anyone into the secular movement, but overall a decent read. Does a good job of demonstrating how the theocrats are misrepresenting what they claim to be building their arguments on. I also like that it presents a positive approach to the subject.

    7 out of 7 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted July 3, 2012

    fair in terms of content and layout, best used as a reference bo

    fair in terms of content and layout, best used as a reference book
    This book appears to give a good layout of todays political situation in America as far as theocratic representation is concerned (as far as 2012 is concerned). Apart from that it does offer some tidbits of info on quotes used some infamous theocrats in the US on modern times. I found this book to be quite entertaining, but see this book as somewhat of a novelty item, and plan on holding onto a book like this since it's content is based on modern time political history since it might bear some historic value later on (the fundamentalist fifty chapter is a great example). If you buy a copy of this book keep it as long as you can, this is modern day history encapsulated in one book.

    Was this review helpful? Yes  NoThank you for your feedback.   Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.

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    Posted December 30, 2011

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    Posted December 21, 2011

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    Posted April 18, 2012

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    Posted May 17, 2012

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