Blasphemy: How The Religious Right Is Hijacking Our Declaration Of Independence

Book Summary

Blasphemy "Anyone, left or right, who admires the foundations of American democracy will enjoy this spirited reminder of the Founding Fathers' true genius." --Steven Pinker, Johnstone Professor, Harvard University, and author of The Language Instinct, The Blank Slate, and The Stuff of Thought "The wall of separation between church and state is one of the great barriers to religious tyranny. Among the wall's most articulate defenders is Dershowitz, who shows in this readable book why the authors of our Declaration feared theocracy and favored democracy." --Nadine Strossen, Professor of Law, New York Law School, and President of the American Civil Liberties Union "Dershowitz proves that Jefferson and his compatriots purposely built a wall between Church and State that the Religious Right is now attempting to destroy. If conservative Christians are successful at shoving God down our throats, the end of democracy as we know it will soon follow." --U.S. Congressman Pete Stark (D-Calif.) The Religious Right is engaged in a crusade to convert the United States into a Christian theocracy based on the Bible and transform the Declaration of Independence into America's baptismal certificate. Now the acclaimed civil libertarian and legal educator Alan Dershowitz fights back. In this compelling and provocative book, he decisively counters arguments that the Declaration was founded on biblical law, proving conclusively that there is absolutely no relation between the "Creator" and "Nature's God" referenced in the Declaration and the Judeo-Christian God of the Old and New Testaments. Dershowitz is both passionate and persuasive as he rescues the Declaration from theclutches of the Religious Right's dangerous historical revisionism. In Blasphemy, he restores Thomas Jefferson's document to its rightful place in American history--and its proper role in shaping the future of the country. "This is an engaging refutation of an insidious form of 'political correctness' of the right--the nonsensical idea that our country was founded on Christian principles. Anyone, left or right, who admires the foundations of American democracy will enjoy this spirited reminder of the Founding Fathers' true genius." --Steven Pinker, Johnstone Professor, Harvard University author of The Language Instinct, The Blank Slate, and The Stuff of Thought "The wall of separation between church and state is one of the great barriers to religious tyranny. Among the wall's most articulate defenders is Dershowitz, who shows in this readable book why the authors of our Declaration feared theocracy and favored democracy." --Nadine Strossen, Professor of Law at New York Law School and President of the American Civil Liberties Union "Blasphemy proves that many Christians are as deliberately bewildered about the history of our nation as they are about the evolution of life on this planet. Dershowitz has done a great service in rescuing Jefferson, Adams, and the other Founding Fathers from the religious delusions of the Christian Right. This book will strike a great blow to the forces of theocracy in the United States." --Sam Harris, author of the New York Times bestsellers The End of Faith and Letter to a Christian Nation "Right wing Christian zealots don't know Thomas Jefferson from Jefferson Starship. The assertion that our Declaration of Independence is a Christian document is absurd. Colonists fled Europe to escape religious persecution, not to be controlled by a different religion. Dershowitz proves that Jefferson and his compatriots purposely built a wall between Church andState that the Religious Right is now attempting to destroy. If conservative Christians are successful at shoving God down our throats, the end of democracy as we know it will soon follow." --U.S. Congressman Pete Stark (D-CA) "Blasphemy is a brilliant, well-researched critique of the Religious Right's 'Christian Nation' mythology and its misuse of the American historical record. Just as significant, Professor Dershowitz illuminates the open hostility and vitriol this movement routinely exhibits toward all, religious or secular, who dare to challenge its faulty conclusions." --Barry W. Lynn, Executive Director, Americans United for Separation of Church and State

Book Details