Between Church and State : Religion and Public Education in a Multicultural America, 1600-2000

by James W. Fraser

• ISBN13: 9780312216368
• ISBN10: 031221636X
• Format: Trade Book
• Copyright: 1999-07-30
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Summary

The relationship of religion and public education is, once again, a burning issue, with renewed debates about school prayer, ways to teach the Bible, and the relationship of religion and science. Though too few people know about it, battles over the proper relationship of religion to public education have gone on in the United States for as long as there have been public schools. At the most basic level, the debates about the relationship are debates about the nature of democratic culture. Who defines the dominant culture of the nation? How are minority rights and traditions protected? How are the deepest, and sometimes most diverse, issues of faith reconciled with the very public and common nature of schooling? How, after all, do we find a way for the school to be the public square where respectful and informed conversation can happen around beliefs which are both deeply held and radically different from individual to individual and sub-group to sub-group?Between Church and Stateexplores these issues in terms of historical context, contemporary public policy debates, and practical steps for educators and other concerned citizens.

Author Biography

James W. Fraser is Professor of History and Education and Director for Innovation in Urban Education at Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts. Fraser has also been Pastor of Grace Church, Federated in East Boston, Massachusetts since 1986. With Theresa Perry, he is also the editor of Freedom's Plow.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
Introduction	1	(8)
From Holy Commonwealth to the Strange Compromise of 1789	9	(14)
Creating an American Common School and a Common Faith: Horace Mann and the Protestant Public Schools, 1789--1860	23	(26)
Who Defines What Is Common? Roman Catholics and the Common School Movement, 1801-1892	49	(18)
Literacy in the African American Community: Church and School in Slave and Free Communities, 1802--1902	67	(16)
Native American Religion, Christian Missionaries, and Government Schools, 1819--1926	83	(22)
Protestant, Catholic, Jew: Immigration and Nativism from the Blaine Amendment to the Scopes Trial, 1875--1925	105	(22)
Prayer, Bible Reading, and Federal Money: The Expanding Role of Congress and the Supreme Court, 1925--1968	127	(28)
Culture Wars, Creationism, and the Reagan Revolution, 1968--1990	155	(28)
Changing School Boards, Curriculum, and the Constitution, 1990--	183	(34)
What's Next? Prayers, Vouchers, and Creationism: The Battle for the Schools of the Twenty-First Century	217	(24)
Notes	241	(18)
For Further Reading	259	(10)
Index	269