How the Republicans Stole Religion: Why the Religious Right Is Wrong about Faith & Politics and What We Can Do to Make It Right

Thank you, Mr. Press, for seeing the light and showing us the way back to a saner appreciation of the balance between church and state (and yes, there needs to be a balance since the two things are not the same!). If Democrats heed what's in this book I think we'll be well on our way back to an intelligent government.

Having managed to come across an early review copy of this title, I must say I'm suitably impressed with the research which went into this title. Mr. Press outlines the 'mandate' the republican majority seems to believe they received with the election and then the re-election of President Bush. He also outlines several contentious issues which the republicans have used throughout the decades to push religion into the public sphere where it is forced on those who do not agree with their views. Or forced on individuals who are not 'believers' in the sense of a true religious belief. Through exhaustive quotes of our founding fathers, of whom George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin are just a few, and exhaustive research on biblical texts, Mr. Press has concluded rightly that our country is NOT a Christian Nation as the fundamentalists would have us believe. And even more singularly, Christianity desires to maintain it's necessary distance from influencing the government as well.

The political/religious atmosphere of recent years might give one the impression that there is only one way of thinking about the intersection of these two important entities. Press does a very good job of showing the moral grounding of progressive politics. The Democratic party has completely lost its way in understanding what their core values truly are--Standing up for the rights, dignity, and prosperity of every person in this country, not merely the elect few who have money enough to wield hugely disproportionate influence over everyone's future.

Press laments that the religious reich has distorted 'Christianity' and 'values' but he does not call for a religious theocracy of his own inside this book. Instead, his work is powerful because it has the reader question 'what would Jesus REALLY do?' were he to come back to modern America. Since the 1970's, the Republican Party is courting evangelicals (and vice versa) through highly loaded emotional imagery. Their coercion produces the racism, sexism, homophobia, and classism throughout in our society because 'nobody' wants to be against Jesus. These groups convince people that unless we do what they say, we will not be "Christian". I read this book in the aftermath of Katrina--ironically when those groups are now silent about morality. The federal, state, and local governments (packed with 'their' people) are accused of neglecting predominantly poor African American people who could not just jump into their cars and evacuate. Meanwhile, FEMA came under public scrutiny because then-director Michael Brown delayed sending in aid. This book argues that it is not what labels we call ourselves but how we treat other people who are less fortunate than ourselves which should really measure 'ethics'. We need to look out for the less fortunate among ourselves. He also highlights discrepancies between the right's clamoring for 'tradition' and their attack on the constitutionally mandated wall of separation between church and state. Thomas Jefferson and James Madison (among others) knew that the establishment of an official state religion harmed all people and would undercut the foundations of a 'democracy'. They were religious, but recognized that their right to practice their religion ended with themselves. We commit the ultimate affront against tradition when we attempt to pretend they would endorse today's bible-thumping.

It seems as if a book like this has been a long time in the coming. Why do Republicans act like they have the moral high-ground when so much of what they really stand for is selfish, self-serving, and hateful. I loved Bill Press's book because it finally puts forward clear and thoughtful reasons why Democrats have many virtues to be proud of. Politics is not irrelevant--People are losing their lives to poverty, lack of education, injustice, and war. Let's champion the values that Press puts forward in this book.