What It Takes to Be Free: Religion and the Roots of Democracy

by Siobhan Nash-Marshall, Seana Sugrue (Foreword by)

Overview

This book about America, and its strengths and vulnerabilities, is quite properly a meditation on freedom. No other value is more closely associated with what it means to be American than this. From the quest of the Puritans for religious freedom to the American Revolution, from the Civil War to the War against Terrorism, it is freedom that has been at stake.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780824519940
Publisher:	The Crossroad Publishing Company
Publication date:	08/01/2003
Pages:	168
Product dimensions:	5.12(w) x 7.50(h) x 0.47(d)

Table of Contents

	Foreword	9
1	Why Freedom?	13
	Why We Need to Understand Freedom	17
	The Conditions of Freedom	23
	Our Love of Freedom	26
	Freedom and Nations	31
	What It Takes to Be Free	35
2	Why We Are Not a Theocracy: The Root of Our Love of Freedom	36
	God's Rights and Human Rights	38
	The Hazards of Theocracies	42
	Why a Theocracy Will Not Work	45
	Faith and Human Inviolability	48
	Faith and Freedom	51
	American Faith and Freedom	54
3	The Responsibility of Freedom	55
	Freedom and Laws	57
	Building a Community of Believers	59
	Freedom and Democracy	63
	The Perils of Democracy	66
	The Responsibility of Democracy	70
4	The Limits of Freedom	72
	Beliefs and the Freedom of Thinkers	75
	Freedom and society	78
	Beliefs and the Foundations of Communities	82
	Common Beliefs and American Values	85
	Common Beliefs and Freedom	89
	Necessity and Freedom	93
	Necessary Thoughts and Free Thinkers	95
	Basic Beliefs, Freedom, and America	101
	Opinions and the Rights of White Men	103
	The Rights of Other White Men to Their Opinions	106
	Opinions and the Death of the Union	110
	The Rights of Thinkers, Our Morality, and Our Unity	111
	The Rights of Thinkers and Our Democracy	114
	The Limits of Freedom	117
5	The Promise of Freedom	120
	Faith, Science, and Dreams of Perfect Worlds	124
	The Faith of the Founding Fathers	130
	Faith and Reason	136
	Americans and Their Independence	139
	American Practicality	142
	What It Takes to Be Free	148
	The American Legacy	151
	Notes	155
	Acknowledgments	165
	About the Author	167