Spiritual Politics: Religion and America Since World War II

The existence of a distinctive religious dynamic in the United States is manifest as Silk, a reporter for the Atlanta Constitution, evaluates the operation of that dynamic in the years since World War II. The tensions generated by religious pluralism form the central religious issue of our time, according to Silk, who reviews the last four decades of our social history, concentrating on the development of the Judeo-Christian tradition in the country. This tradition, on the national as well as the personal level, is shown to have formed many configurations and become a paradoxical necessity in the business of government, as well as in the conduct of lives. The author presents the changing values in American public and religious life with insights that contribute to an understanding of our many-stranded religious history. (April)