The wages of advocacy.(Liberty of Conscience: In Defense of America's Tradition of Religious Equality)(Book review)

First Things: A Monthly Journal of Religion and Public Life, February, 2008 by Smith, Steven D.

LIBERTY OF CONSCIENCE: IN DEFENSE OF AMERICA'S TRADITION OF RELIGIOUS EQUALITY by MARTHA NUSSBAUM Basic Books, 320 pages, $27.50

MARTHA NUSSBAUM'S Liberty of Conscience is a blend mixed from approximately equal portions of John Rawls, Sandra Day O'Connor, and the pack of recent writers deploring America's imminent theocracy. Nussbaum's ideal is Rawls' style of public discourse, in which citizens would refrain from bringing their particular religious beliefs into public debates. Like Justice O'Connor, she would forbid government to endorse religion. And she is endlessly critical of the religious right, which she portrays as mounting a major assault on the American tradition.

Along the way, Nussbaum insists she is friendly to religion. She presents...

Read the rest of this article with a Free Trial at HighBeam Research.

Premium Content Partnership | HighBeam Research provides an in-depth online archive library of reference works.