Rediscovering America's Sacred Ground

by McGraw, Barbara A.

• ISBN13: 9780791457054
• ISBN10: 0791457052
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-04-01
• Publisher: State Univ of New York Pr

Summary

Returning to the ideas of John Locke and the Founders themselves, Barbara A. McGraw examines the debate about the role of religion in American public life and unravels the confounded rhetoric on all sides. She reveals that no group has been standing on proper ground and that all sides have misused terminology (religion/secular), dichotomies (public/ private), and concepts (separation of church and state) in ways that have little relevance to the original intention of the Founders. She rediscovers a theology underlying the founding documents of the nation that is neither anyone's particular religion nor one requiring religion. Instead, it justifies freedom of conscience for all and provides a two-tiered public forum -- a civic public forum and a conscientious public forum -- for the debate itself and the actions that debate inspires. America's Sacred Ground -- this theology and its public forum -- determines the meaning of freedom and the ways in which Americans can pursue "the good": good government, good communities, good families, good relations between indiv

Author Biography

Barbara A. McGraw is Associate Professor of Legal, Ethical, and Social Environment at Saint Mary's College of California.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	xi
Prologue	xv
Toward A Debate on Common Ground	1	(22)
At the Crossroads of the Twenty-First Century	1	(2)
Roots of the Conflict	3	(2)
Original Intent and the Religion Clauses: At the Core of the Debate	5	(5)
Entering the Fray	10	(5)
On Looking Back to Rediscover America's Moral Foundations	15	(4)
A Few Definitions	19	(4)
Part I Looking Back to Rediscover America's Sacred Ground
Rediscovering the Roots of America's Sacred Ground in John Locke	23	(38)
John Locke: Prophet of America	23	(2)
Locke's Political Theology: Locating the Sacred Center in Each Individual's Relationship with God	25	(9)
The Social Contract as Society's Sacred Ground	34	(7)
Aiming for the Kingdom of God Requires ``Just Bounds'' between Civil Government and Churches	41	(4)
Rediscovering the Individual as the Sole Authority over Conscience and the Authentic Religious Community as a Free and Voluntary Call to Conscience	45	(2)
Setting the ``Just Bounds'' between Individual Conscience's Moral Choice and the State	47	(3)
Rethinking the Private/Public Dichotomy in Locke's Political Theology and the ``Public'' Role of Religion	50	(4)
Rediscovering the Moral Ground of Locke's Political Theology	54	(3)
Distinguishing Locke's Reasonable Christianity from His Political Theology	57	(2)
Creating the Political Context for the Realization of the True and the Good	59	(2)
The United States Constitution: Establishing America's Sacred Ground	61	(48)
Rediscovering John Locke in the Revolutionary Spirit	61	(5)
Rediscovering the Religious Roots of the American Political System	66	(7)
The States: Toward Government that Ensures Freedom of Conscience and Seeks to Promote a Good Society	73	(7)
The United States: Toward Government that Ensures Freedom of Conscience and Creates the Context for the Search for the True and the Good	80	(8)
Exploring the Theological Terrain of America's Sacred Ground	88	(3)
Comparing the Moral Terrain of America's Sacred Ground with the Moral Order of Overarching Worldview Approaches to Government	91	(3)
The Civic and Conscientious Morality of the Two-Tiered Public Forum	94	(5)
The Role of Religion in the Public Forum and in the Pursuit of the Good	99	(3)
America's Sacred Ground: The Foundation for Pluralism and Multiculturalism that Refutes the Claims of Moral Relativity	102	(3)
America's Sacred Ground as the Common Good: Where Religious Voices are Prominent and Truth Can Shift for Herself	105	(4)
Part II Rooting the Contemporary Debate in Sacred Ground
Taking Sides and Looking Left	109	(28)
Unraveling the Contemporary Debate	109	(1)
Embracing the Fears at the Extremes: Left and Right	110	(9)
Reconsidering the Secular Left from the Perspective of America's Sacred Ground	119	(9)
John Rawls: Compromising America's Sacred Ground with Public Reasons	128	(9)
Looking Right	137	(30)
Reconsidering the Religious Right from the Perspective of America's Sacred Ground	137	(15)
Accommodation: Compromising America's Sacred Ground by Mediating the Extremes	152	(15)
Grounding the Debate	167	(8)
Sifting through the Confusion in the Contemporary Debate	167	(6)
Reorienting the Debate to Aim for the Good	173	(2)
Conclusion America's Sacred Ground: Our Civic Faith	175	(10)
Appendix A A Few Definitions	185	(8)
Appendix B Freedom of Conscience in Revolutionary Period Constitutions and Declarations of Rights	193	(6)
Appendix C Drafts of the Religion Clauses Proposed in the Debates of the First Congress	199	(4)
Notes	203	(28)
Suggested Readings	231	(4)
Index	235