In Celebration: An American Jewish Perspective Bicentennial of the United States Constitution

This book utilizes the overwhelming potential in our Constitution Bicentennial Celebration by addressing the hard questions of church and state in America from the perspective of the Jewish experience. The debate is perhaps the most constant of our struggles since these states united. While the direct import of church and state issues may be felt most profoundly in the Jewish communities, it is clear that the resolution of any such conflict has an impact on every ethnic and religious community in this countryoand sets the tone for democratic patterns in the free world. Here assembled is a group of thinkers and activists who represent some of the best of this generation, joined together in community dialogue. These papers were originally popular lectures, and the chapters appear in the form in which they were publicly presented. Contents: In Defense of Equality, Naomi Cohen; The Letter and the Spirit of Pluralism in a Constitutional Democracy, Richard John Neuhaus; A Jew Perspective on Basic Human Rights, Jerome Shestack; Rhetoric and Reality, Lance J. Sussman; The Bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution, Milton Konvitz; and Christian America or Secular America?, Jonathan Sarna. Co-published with American Jewish Archives.