This Is The Place!

2020 ◽  
pp. 31-56
Author(s):  
Sara M. Patterson
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Church And State ◽  
Civic Life ◽  
Latter Day Saints ◽  
Mormon History

The negotiations that took place in order to create the 1947 This Is The Place monument and secure the land on which it stands demonstrate church and state authorities’ attempts to construct place and memory in Utah. While portions of the monument confirm the narrative of the Latter-day Saints as part of God’s chosen people, other portions affirm Mormons as leaders in the civic life of Utah and the larger United States. The monument itself represents the tension and ultimate compromise between these two often competing narratives at a pivotal moment in Mormon history.

Dissent in the Atlantic World, 1787–1830

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine Carté Engel
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
African Americans ◽  
First Amendment ◽  
Church And State ◽  
State Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
American Population ◽  
Simple Fact ◽  
General Role

The very term ‘Dissenter’ became problematic in the United States, following the passing of the First Amendment. The formal separation of Church and state embodied in the First Amendment was followed by the ending of state-level tax support for churches. None of the states established after 1792 had formal religious establishments. Baptists, Congregationalists, Presbyterians, and Methodists accounted for the majority of the American population both at the beginning and end of this period, but this simple fact masks an important compositional shift. While the denominations of Old Dissent declined relatively, Methodism grew quickly, representing a third of the population by 1850. Dissenters thus faced several different challenges. Primary among these were how to understand the idea of ‘denomination’ and also the more general role of institutional religion in a post-establishment society. Concerns about missions, and the positions of women and African Americans are best understood within this context.

Attitudes toward Mormons and Voter Behavior in the 2012 Presidential Election

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 60-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
George Hawley
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Presidential Election ◽  
Party Identification ◽  
The United States ◽  
Vote Choice ◽  
Voter Behavior ◽  
Latter Day Saints ◽  
Active Member ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Church

AbstractPrior to the 2012 presidential election, some commentators speculated that Mitt Romney's status as a devout and active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints would undermine his presidential aspirations. Using the 2012 American National Election Survey, this study examines the relationship between attitudes toward Mormons and voter behavior in the United States in that election year. It finds that attitudes toward Mormons had a statistically-significant effect on turnout — though these effects differed according to party identification. It additionally finds that these attitudes influenced vote choice. In both cases, the substantive effects were small, indicating that anti-Mormon feelings did play a role in the 2012 presidential election, but they did not determine the final outcome.

scholarly journals Book Review: Religion and Politics in America: An Encyclopedia of Church and State in American Life

2017 ◽  
Vol 56 (3) ◽  
pp. 219
Author(s):  
Amanda Sprochi
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Church And State ◽  
Religion And Politics ◽  
The United States ◽  
Colonial Era ◽  
American Life ◽  
Politics And Religion ◽  
University History ◽  
History Of

Religion and Politics in America: An Encyclopedia of Church and State in American Life provides an overview of the relationship between politics and religion in the United States. Smith, president of Tyndale International University, history instructor at Georgia Gwinnett College, and Presbyterian minister, with his collaborators, has created a resource that spans the history of the United States from the colonial era to the present day. The 360 entries in the encyclopedia are arranged alphabetically by topic and are signed by the contributor, and each article includes references for further reading. Cross-references, a chronological time line, and a comprehensive index help to identify particular topics and to facilitate further reading.

Secularism and US Religion Jurisprudence

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caroline Corbin
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Religious Freedom ◽  
Church And State ◽  
The United States ◽  
The State ◽  
Religious Liberty ◽  
Establishment Clause ◽  
Free Exercise ◽  
Free Exercise Clause ◽  
Constitutional Jurisprudence

Religious surveys are finding greater percentages of Americans who self-identify as secular. At the same time, religious exemptions under the Free Exercise Clause have become more difficult to obtain. However, religion jurisprudence in the United States has not become more secular for two reasons. First, this greater unwillingness to grant constitutional exemptions reflects a shift in constitutional jurisprudence from “separationism” to “neutrality.” Rather than building a wall between church and state, the Establishment Clause is now interpreted to impose fewer restraints on state-sponsored religion. Second, statutes like the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act and its state counterparts have not only reestablished separationist era levels of protection for religious liberty but increased them. The result is a religion jurisprudence where religion is accommodated more than ever, while the state has more leeway to advance religion. This combination has unfortunate consequences for both secular people and core secular values, such as antidiscrimination.

Aftermath

2021 ◽  
pp. 199-206
Author(s):  
Spencer W. McBride
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Jesus Christ ◽  
Presidential Election ◽  
The United States ◽  
Church Leaders ◽  
Latter Day Saints ◽  
Decision To Leave ◽  
Joseph Smith ◽  
The Church

This chapter describes the aftermath of the assassination of Joseph Smith. This aftermath includes mourning and a funeral in Nauvoo, debates over who should succeed Smith as the president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who the Mormons should vote for in the election, and the decision to leave the United States altogether. The Mormons were contemplating leaving the United States before Smith’s murder, but the violent act seemed to make this departure the only way forward in the minds of many church leaders. They had come to realize that without significant reform, the United States was incapable of protecting them. This chapter also considers the result of the presidential election of 1844 and what became of each of the candidates in the years that followed.

Epilogue

2019 ◽  
pp. 134-138
Author(s):  
Quincy D. Newell
Keyword(s):  
Latter Day Saints ◽  
Racially Diverse ◽  
Race And Gender ◽  
Joseph Smith ◽  
Mormon History ◽  
History Of ◽  
Late Twentieth ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Ways Of Being ◽  
Late Twentieth Century

After her death, Jane James faded into obscurity until the late twentieth century, when she gained new fame. Mormons used her story to reimagine their church as racially diverse and Joseph Smith as racially egalitarian. For historians of American religion and others, James’s story gives the history of Mormonism from below and shows the limits of Mormonism’s democratizing impulse. It illustrates the variety of Mormon religious experience and shows the limits of focusing on temple rituals and priesthood. James’s Mormonism differed from that of other Latter-day Saints and thus illustrates how race and gender shaped ways of being Mormon. James also shaped Mormon history in subtle but crucial ways. Her presence in present-day LDS discourses suggests that she has finally achieved what she worked so hard for during her life: Mormons of all races now hold her in “honourable remembrance,” as her second patriarchal blessing promised her.

New Light

First Vision ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 209-218
Author(s):  
Steven C. Harper
Keyword(s):  
Research Method ◽  
Latter Day Saints ◽  
Historical Evidence ◽  
Mormon History ◽  
The 1960S

As the number of Mormon converts pushed toward two million in the 1960s, Presbyterian minister Wesley Walters was not able to keep them from becoming Latter-day Saints. But he forced all serious scholars of Mormon history to reconsider the reliability of Joseph Smith’s first vision story with his novel research method and findings. Walters made the case that historical evidence disproved any sizeable revival in Joseph Smith’s vicinity in 1820, and therefore that Smith made up his story later, situating it in the context of a well-documented 1824 revival. Walters’s argument was later criticized for its fallacies of irrelevant proof negative proof, but it caused consternation among Latter-day Saint scholars at the time.

Is Mindfulness Religion?

Mind Cure ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 137-170
Author(s):  
Wakoh Shannon Hickey
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Public Schools ◽  
Church And State ◽  
The United States ◽  
Government Agencies ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Therapeutic Method ◽  
Theories Of Religion ◽  
The Military ◽  
Metaphysical Religion

This chapter considers whether Mindfulness can reasonably be considered a kind of religion, despite proponents’ claims to the contrary. If so, what kind? Is it Buddhist? If so, what kind of Buddhism? The rhetoric of Jon Kabat-Zinn, founder of the modern Mindfulness movement, is tested against several different theories of religion, as well as critiques by specialists in both Theravāda and Māhāyana forms of Buddhism. While Mindfulness is positioned as a strictly secular therapeutic method, it has all the characteristics of American metaphysical religion, as well as of modernist Buddhism and neo-Vedanta. Kabat-Zinn claims his teachings are “universal,” yet they actually reflect his own eclectic blend of elements from various religious traditions with roots in Asia, the United States, and Europe. As Mindfulness is increasingly promoted in public schools, government agencies, and the military, this raises legitimate questions about the separation of church and state.

Benjamin Franklin and the Holy See, 1783–1784

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 220-228
Author(s):  
Luca Codignola
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Significant Role ◽  
Catholic Church ◽  
Church And State ◽  
The United States ◽  
Benjamin Franklin ◽  
Old Regime ◽  
Holy See ◽  
Main Protagonist ◽  
Selection Of

Benjamin Franklin played a significant role in the early encounter between Rome and the United States. By highlighting Franklin’s role one is likely to question the two main tenets of traditional Catholic historiography in this regard. First of all, that the Holy See did not unwillingly submit itself to any imposition of newly-devised American democratic procedures in selecting how best to deal with the new republic. Secondly, that Franklin did constantly intervene in religious matters, at least as far as these concerned the establishment of the Catholic Church in the United States. In fact, the adoption of a democratic form of selection of the higher hierarchy was easily accepted and indeed exploited by the Holy See. Furthermore, much was going on underneath the official doctrine of the separation between church and state. This resembled old-regime diplomatic wrangling and had Franklin as its main protagonist.

Law, the U.S. Supreme Court, and Religion

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Derek H. Davis
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Supreme Court ◽  
Church And State ◽  
Religion And Politics ◽  
The United States ◽  
Political Life ◽  
Equal Treatment ◽  
State Court ◽  
Depth Analysis ◽  
The Supreme Court

The United States Supreme Court’s religion jurisprudence is typically analyzed based on whether a court’s decision emerges from an Establishment Clause analysis or a Free Exercise Clause analysis. While this method is useful, a more in-depth analysis can be undertaken by identifying various philosophical themes that describe the court’s varied approaches to deciding religion cases. The cases can be analyzed under at least four separate but interrelated themes: separation of church and state, cooperation between sacred and secular activities in religion-based contexts, equal treatment among religions, and the integration of religion and politics. This article examines the High Court’s often controversial decisions affecting religion through the lenses of these four themes. The term “separation of church and state” is frequently used to describe the American relationship between law and religion, but this term is far too simplistic a description of how church and state interact in the American system; the ways in which the system sometimes embraces separation but sometimes does not, are analyzed and explained. Consistent with the misconception that the Supreme Court always seeks to “separate” church and state, court analysts will sometimes describe the court’s strategy as giving “no aid” to religion. This also is a simplistic analysis, since it can clearly be shown that the court does not seek to “wall” off religion from government aid in all cases. Rather, the court tends to sanction state support of “secular” activities that arise in religion contexts while denying state aid to the “sacred” components of religious activity. “Equality” is a hallmark of American democracy. While the Founders did not earmark equality as a goal of the religion clauses, the concept has nevertheless emerged as a byproduct of deeper goals, namely sanctioning religious pluralism and providing equal access to government office. If separation of church and state were really the centerpiece of how religion and state activity interact in the United States, the Supreme Court would not sanction the involvement of religion in public debate and discourse, nor would it permit political candidates and officeholders to freely talk about religion in their personal lives and its role in American political life. But the court carefully crafts a jurisprudence that rarely intrudes on this kind of activity. In sum, looking at Supreme Court religion cases through a number of philosophical lenses is a fruitful guide to understanding court decisions that are otherwise often highly complex and confusing.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document