This book examines the political and religious context in which the Constitution and The Bill of Rights were adopted

This book examines the political and religious context in which the Constitution and The Bill of Rights were adopted. Swomley reasons that those who wrote and adopted the Constitution and First Amendment intended a strict separation of church and state.

A secular state is an idea pertaining to secularity, whereby a state is or purports to be officially neutral in matters of religion, supporting neither religion nor irreligion. A secular state also claims to treat all its citizens equally regardless. A secular state also claims to treat all its citizens equally regardless of religion, and claims to avoid preferential treatment for a citizen based on their religious beliefs, affiliation or lack of either over those with other profiles.

Start by marking Religious Liberty and the Secular State as Want to. .

Start by marking Religious Liberty and the Secular State as Want to Read: Want to Read savin. ant to Read. This book exposes the Supreme Court's erosion of the Establishment Clause while emphasizing the Free Exercise Clause. Swomley also explores civil religion, secular humanism, and the current counter-revolution against separation of church and state led by some religious and political conservatives who would profit from government aid. He also lists the benefits churches would realize under a secular government.

John M. Swomley (1987). Religious liberty and the secular state: the constitutional context. John M. Swomley, Americans for Religious Liberty (1997). Confronting church and state: memoirs of an activist. avoid the resentment of those who do not want to be forced to contribute to churches to which they do not belong and of their own members who do not welcome being forced to contribute through government taxation. Separation prevents the government from determining church policy, whether directly or indirectly. Responsibility, Church, Stronger. Government, Church, Taxation. Swomley (1968). Religion, the State & the Schools, New York : Pegasus. Government, Church, Separation.

Religious Liberty and the Secular State: The Constitutional Context.

Actually, genuine religious liberty and ecumenism are not authorized by the . If the State is under

Actually, genuine religious liberty and ecumenism are not authorized by the official documents of Vatican II. Non-Catholics as well as Catholics who have not read the documents are misled by popular assumptions that the church has changed its position to accept genuine religious liberty or ecumenism. If the State is under. moral compulsion to profess and promote religion, it is. obviously obliged to profess and promote only the religion. The Declaration of Religious Liberty that came out of Vatican II affirms "traditional Catholic doctrines on the moral duty of men and societies toward the true religion and toward the one Church of Christ. Swomley, Religious Liberty and the Secular State. Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books, 1987. Reproduced by permission of the publisher. The constitutional doctrine of separation of church and state is a uniquely American contribution to government.

Americans for Religious Liberty, Silver Spring, MD.

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 April 2015.