Divided by God: America's Church-State Problem--And What We Should Do about It

Did you know the Constitution never mentions God, and it explicitly stops Congress from "establishing" a religion? Yet, the official motto of our country is "In God We Trust." Did you know that President John Adams made Thanksgiving a day of fasting and mortification? Save for perhaps the pain Detroit Lions' fans always seem to endure on the third Thursday in November, modern Thanksgivings are a far cry from Adams' ideal. Clearly, times have changed but God and religion, as Feldman lays out, are very much part of our heritage. His brilliant book, Divided by God, begs the question: Do Americans truly want resolution on the issue of separation. Like Judge Noah Sweat's position on whiskey, we seem to enjoy our "if when you say" position that goes something like this: If when you say religion, you mean the right to free exercise of religion, Parochial Schools, religious organizations that provide tender care for our little children, our blind, our deaf, our dumb, our pitiful aged, and infirm, then we are for it. But, if when you say relgion, you mean those organizations that would impose their views upon others, who would exclude you from their organizations, their country clubs, their conversations, their private rituals, then we are against it. Or to put it another way, if the winless Detroit Lions ever expect to win a game, look for their fans to be singing Irving Berlin's "God Bless America" next Sunday. Like the Establishment Clause, it can't hurt.

If the church - state debate interests you, you owe it to yourself to get informed. This book does an excellent job of blowing up all the talking points, from both sides of the political spectrum and helps the reader understand what happened and see both sides of this fascinating issue. Here's a list of interesting, historical observations which vary from the typical left and right talking points. The nation was NOT founded by Christians. Most of the founders were deists who believed in a creator, but were NOT traditional christians. Those who wrote the constitution did not think christian symbols, prayer in public ceremonies or other chrsitian trappings "established" religion. Bible reading was prominent in public schools all the way into the middle of the 20th century and was viewed as a way of establishing public morality. It was NOT viewed as establishing religion. The judges who created a more severe interpretation of the establishment clause were influenced by the events of World War II, where millions were killed on the basis of their religion alone. The idea that they might have been power hungry, liberal and secular judges is not strongly supported by the facts. Justice Black who wrote the first opinion in 1947 that called for a "high wall of separation" was a former klansman and was concerned about one religion holding sway, not with building a secular country. The establishment clause was originally applied only to federal matters. There are many more fascinating historical facts that will help inform and broaden your grasp of this issue. I highly recommend this book.

While I find Mr. Feldman solution to the Church-State problem overly simplistic and probably unworkable, I found the book in general to be very useful. It helps one to understand the series of events that have brought the United States to today's church/state quagmire. The history leading up to a situation is always useful in understanding that situation (and possibly finding solutions and compromises to solve problems.) The majority of Mr. Feldman's book deals with the history of how we arrived at where we are today. It is readable, not overly verbose and easy to follow and understand. Mr. Feldman has written with little or no editorial content in describing the history of the church/state problem. He is to be congratulated for this effort and his book read in the context of the clear concise history he presents.

In Divided by God, Noah Feldman has crafted an important book that explores the history of the separation between church and state and from that history, proposes what we should do about this issue in the future. What helps Feldman with the book not only is that he is fairly neutral, but he also is not afriad to interject his opinion when necessary (he favors reasonable public symbolic religion, but not public financing of religion). This allows for an approach that is captivating. Don't worry if you're afraid you won't share Feldman's opinions, though. The history takes up at least 3/4 of the book, with the rest focusing on the present and the future. Feldman louds and critcizes both sides of the debate--but it the end, the background information is what helps form the reader's opinion the most. From what really happened when the framers drafted the constitution all the way to the formation of what we call evangelicalism and secularism today, Feldman fills in the blanks of what we already know. The background and the answers aren't clear-cut, but this book helps shine light in the dark places of the issue.

Unlike the rest of the "reviewers", I think that this book:"Divided by God:America's Church-State Problem" addresses a very real problem within the culture of the United States. WE THE PEOPLE, who are Christians, regardless of theological stripe, want control of the nation and each other. Feldman addresses the history of the problem extremely accurately. His recounting of that history may be a little dry but his conclusions are on target, in my humble opinion. This is a book written for this time, for unlike any time previous to this, we are in national crisis attempting to determine who shall rule the "ways and means of our country". This book, and I would recommend its inclusion as a textbook in college religion courses or sociology/anthropology courses, is an avenue of addressing the issues ar large within our culture. Read this book! This book is an indepth study of the history of the difficulties of our "balanced" church-state relationship. This book makes perfect sense in the context of our confused times.