The Clash of Orthodoxies

by George, Robert P.

• ISBN13: 9781882926947
• ISBN10: 1882926943
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-09-01
• Publisher: Isi Books

Summary

In The Clash of Orthodoxies: Law, Religion, and Morality in Crisis, Robert George tackles the issues at the heart of the contemporary conflict of worldviews. Secular liberals typically suppose that their positions on morally charged issues of public policy are the fruit of pure reason, while those of their morally conservative opponents reflect an irrational religious faith. George shows that this supposition is wrong on both counts. Challenging liberalism's claim to represent the triumph of reason, George argues that on controversial issues like abortion, euthanasia, same-sex unions, civil rights and liberties, and the place of religion in public life, traditional Judeo-Christian beliefs are rationally superior to secular liberal alternatives.

The Clash of Orthodoxies is a profoundly important contribution to our contemporary national conversation about the proper role of religion in politics. The lucid and persuasive prose of Robert George, one of America's most prominent public intellectuals, will shock liberals out of an unwarranted complacency and provide powerful ammunition for embattled defenders of traditional morality.

Author Biography

Robert P. George is McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and founding director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University. He has received the Presidential Citizens Medal and served on the President's Council on Bioethics. A graduate of Swarthmore College and Harvard Law School, Professor George earned his doctorate in legal philosophy from Oxford University.

Table of Contents

Foreword: Faith, Reason, and Truth	ix
John J. DiIulio, Jr.
Preface	xiii
THE PUBLIC SQUARE
The Clash of Orthodoxies (Including an exchange with Josh Dever)	3	(36)
Liberal Political Theory and the Culture of Death	39	(24)
God's Reasons	63	(12)
``Same-Sex Marriage'' and ``Moral Neutrality''	75	(16)
The Concept of Public Morality	91	(20)
Making Children Moral: Pornography, Parents, and the Public Interest	111	(16)
THE COURTS
The Tyrant State	127	(10)
Justice, Legitimacy, and Allegiance: ``The End of Democracy'' Symposium Revisited	137	(16)
Natural Law and Civil Rights: From Jefferson's ``Letter to Henry Lee'' to Martin Luther King's ``Letter from Birmingham Jail''	153	(16)
Natural Law, the Constitution, and the Theory and Practice of Judicial Review (Including an exchange with James Fleming)	169	(42)
What Is Law? A Century of Arguments	211	(20)
THE CHURCH
Religious Values and Politics	231	(28)
Nature, Morality, and Homosexuality	259	(14)
Bioethics and Public Policy: Catholic Participation in the American Debate	273	(30)
On Fides et Ratio	303	(14)
Afterword: We Should Not Kill Human Embryos-For Any Reason	317	(8)
Notes	325	(42)
Index	367