by M. Stanton Evans (Author)



Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal
That there is conflict over the accepted place of religion in our public
life and institutions goes without saying. Journalist Evans argues that we
have erroneous notions about the origins of our country, institutions, and
freedoms. He finds many of these mistakes to be the product of an accepted
"liberal history lesson." For example, Evans opposes the common belief
that there must be a "wall of separation" between church and state. Like
Stephen Carter in The Culture of Disbelief (LJ 9/1/93), Evans believes
that religion is wrongly subordinated to other elements of modern American
culture and that religion and religious faith should be significant parts
of our public life. Carter's book is the more scholarly and principled,
Evans's the more polemical. Recommended for public libraries.

From Booklist
Like the generally liberal historian Page Smith in Rediscovering
Christianity , Evans shows that the roots of U.S. liberties lie in the
Christian understanding of the Bible. He uses a rather different set of
authorities--namely, our political founding fathers and their English
forebears more than the clerics (Luther, Calvin, etc.), whom Smith
preferred to cite (both men appeal crucially to St. Augustine, though).
His aims in reestablishing that the U.S. is definitely a Christian nation
differ from Smith's. Smith stressed the disjunction of Christian
principles and the spirit of capitalism, whereas Evans strives to convince
us "that religious belief and its associated values are conceptually
indispensable to a regime of freedom." So doing, Evans also argues that
modern political liberalism undermines freedom as it undermines religion,
and here he sometimes comes a cropper, as when he views the gay lifestyle
as a pagan resurgence that is antilibertarian. But most of the book is
splendidly argued and intensely interesting, especially to modern
conservatives and also to liberals who like to have their assumptions
challenged.

Product Details

Paperback: 366 pages
Publisher: Regnery Publishing, Inc. (January 25, 2007)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0895267187