Death of a Christian Nation Paperback – May 10, 2010

So writes H. Wayne House, Th.D, J.D., in the Foreword to  Death of a Christian Nation . He expounds further, "The tree of liberty has begun to rot at the roots, with license in the name of liberty, intolerance in the name of tolerance, rejection of E PLURIBUS UNUM (out of many, one) in the name of diversity, repression of legitimate verbal disagreement in the name of "hate" speech, the exclusion of religion in the public square in the name of separation of church and state. Our founders would not recognize the current tree from the one they had planted."Author Deborah J. Dewart, who like House, earned a law degree and who actively practices, begins more succinctly but no less directly: "American Christianity is under attack. From shore to shore cases are legion. Believers need knowledge."Dividing up fifteen chapters into three Parts --I Sliding Down Slippery SlopesII Civil Rights: Promiscuity, Perversion, and PrivacyIII Religious Wrongs: Shoving Christians in the Closet-- she traces a brief case law history of how Christian America has become secular America. She then cites many cases that have been decided in the last thirty years in which state and federal courts, through the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) have whittled down the constitutional right to freedom of religion. Here are just a few examples:- In "All About Me" Week at school, a kindergartner wanted to, with his mother, read his favorite book, the Bible, for his class. The school forbad that as a "perceived" violation of church and state separation, and the courts backed up the school even though other students were allowed to "read aloud from books about Hanukkah."- The California Supreme Court declared that two Christian physicians had no constitutional religious freedom to exercise their consciences and refuse to "perform a fertilization procedure" for a lesbian couple. This, despite the fact the doctors referred the women to another medical practice and the procedure was done.- Displays of the Ten Commandments are permitted in parks but not in courtrooms and not in classrooms where the Decalogue might actually " 'induce the schoolchildren to read, meditate upon, perhaps to venerate and obey the Commandments.' ", according to SCOTUS.Along with the bad news about legal trends, Dewart also reports the cases that have been decided more beneficially for religious freedom. For example, courts still mostly refrain from interfering in church hierarchy disputes or in internal church hiring policies. Also, there are some incremental advancements being made by pro-life groups and other religious defense groups in some states.The aim of DEATH OF A CHRISTIAN NATION is not merely to document the shrinking sphere of religious freedom, but to analyze it, and give some guidance to Christians for living their faith without fear and with awareness of potential problem situations. As Dewart notes, "A constitutional right is not an entitlement." This is true for religious freedom, but it is also true for the pressed rights of nondiscrimination, privacy, and "equal rights" used by "pro-choice" and LGBT activists. Often the former rights clash with the latter. Do these activists have the "right" to force people of religious conviction to violate those convictions? No. That would be akin to "involuntary servitude" explains Dewart. Yet, these activists are not deterred by a sense of moderation. They want tolerance for themselves but are less inclined to be tolerant of those who hold different views. "But overly aggressive assertion of such rights threatens to erode the liberties of all Americans. When they shred the Constitution as it applies to Christians, activists simultaneously threaten to extinguish their own rights."DEATH OF A CHRISTIAN NATION is an overview for the layman, not an exhaustive textbook for law students. Occasionally its linkage of the surveyed material jumps around a little, and some passages could benefit from further elaboration. Generally though, this is a valuable, educatedly opinionated and faith-based look at what is happening to religious -- especially Christian -- freedom in the U.S. As the author states, "Freedom FROM religion has replaced freedom OF religion in liberal thought." It is important to read about why and how that has happened and IS happening.