The Production of American Religious Freedom (North American Religions, 7)

Americans Love Religious Freedom. Few Agree, However, About What They Mean By Either 'religion' Or 'freedom.' Rather Than Resolve These Debates, Finbarr Curtis Argues That There Is No Such Thing As Religious Freedom. Lacking Any Consistent Content, Religious Freedom Is A Shifting And Malleable Rhetoric Employed For A Variety Of Purposes. While Americans Often Think Of Freedom As The Right To Be Left Alone, The Free Exercise Of Religion Works To Produce, Challenge, Distribute, And Regulate Different Forms Of Social Power. The Book Traces Shifts In The Notion Of Religious Freedom In America From The Second Great Awakening, To The Fiction Of Louisa May Alcott And The Films Of D.w. Griffith, Through William Jennings Bryan And The Scopes Trial, And Up To Debates Over The Tea Party To Illuminate How Protestants Have Imagined Individual And National Forms Of Identity. A Chapter On Al Smith Considers How The First Catholic Presidential Nominee Of A Major Party Challenged Protestant Views About The Separation Of Church And State. Moving Later In The Twentieth Century, The Book Analyzes Malcolm X's More Sweeping Rejection Of Christian Freedom In Favor Of Radical Forms Of Revolutionary Change. The Final Chapters Examine How Contemporary Controversies Over Intelligent Design And The Claims Of Corporations To Exercise Religion Are At The Forefront Of Efforts To Shift Regulatory Power Away From The State And Toward Private Institutions Like Families, Churches, And Corporations. The Volume Argues That Religious Freedom Is Produced Within Competing Visions Of Governance In A Self-governing Nation--provided By Publisher. You, And You, And You: Charles Grandison Finney And Democracy -- I'm Not Myself To-night. I Owe Money: Louisa May Alcott And Salvation -- Sentiment Rules The World: William Jennings Bryan And Populism -- The Helpless White Minority: D.w. Griffith And Violence -- The Fundamental Faith Of Every True American: Al Smith And Loyalty -- Do You Hate Me? Malcolm X And The Truth -- Science In A Little Box: Intelligent Design And Secularity -- The Most Sacred Of All Property: Corporations And Persons -- You, And You, And You. Finbarr Curtis. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Cover 1 Contents 8 Acknowledgments 10 Introduction 12 1. You, and You, and You: Charles Grandison Finney and Democracy 18 2. I’m Not Myself To-night. I Owe Money: Louisa May Alcott and Salvation 38 3. Sentiment Rules the World: William Jennings Bryan and Populism 53 4. The Helpless White Minority: D. W. Griffith and Violence 79 5. The Fundamental Faith of Every True American: Al Smith and Loyalty 98 6. Do You Hate Me? Malcolm X and the Truth 124 7. Science in a Little Box: Intelligent Design and Secularity 143 8. The Most Sacred of All Property: Corporations and Persons 158 Epilogue: You, and You, and You 178 Notes 182 Bibliography 202 Index 216 A 216 B 216 C 216 D 217 E 217 F 217 G 217 H 217 I 217 J 218 K 218 L 218 M 218 N 218 O 218 P 218 Q 219 R 219 S 219 T 219 U 219 W 219 X 219 Y 219 About the Author 220 Acknowledgments ix Introduction 1 1. You, and You, and You: Charles Grandison Finney and Democracy 7 2. I’m Not Myself To-night. I Owe Money: Louisa May Alcott and Salvation 27 3. Sentiment Rules the World: William Jennings Bryan and Populism 42 4. The Helpless White Minority: D. W. Griffith and Violence 68 5. The Fundamental Faith of Every True American: Al Smith and Loyalty 87 6. Do You Hate Me? Malcolm X and the Truth 113 7. Science in a Little Box: Intelligent Design and Secularity 132 8. The Most Sacred of All Property: Corporations and Persons 147 Epilogue: You, and You, and You 167 Notes 171 Bibliography 191 Index 205 About the Author 209