Religion as a Public Good

Alan Mittleman is professor of religion at Muhlenberg College. He served as director of the Jews and the American Public Square project and edited Jewish Polity and American Civil Society and Jews and the American Public Square.

These essays are a valuable contribution to a topic of significant importance to American Jews and to all who are interested in the distinctive American interplay of diverse religious traditions and civil life. Recommended.

• Chapter 1 IntroductionChapter 2 The Liberal Social Contract and the Privatizationof ReligionChapter 3 "A Proper Blessing?": The Jew and the American Public SquareChapter 4 The Theological-Political Predicament of American JewryChapter 5 The Probable Persistence of American Jewish LiberalismChapter 6 The Need for a Wall Separating Church and State: Why the Establishment Clause is So Important for Jews and Why Jews are So Important for the Establishment ClauseChapter 7 American Jewry, Pre- and Post-9/11Chapter 8 Traditional Judaism and American CitizenshipChapter 9 A Jewish Policy on Church-State RelationsChapter 10 Jewish Law and American Public Policy: A Principled Jewish Law View and Some Practical Jewish ObservationsChapter 11 Religious Diversity and the Common GoodChapter 12 Religion and the Public GoodChapter 13 Judaism Influencing American Public PhilosophyChapter 14 9/11 and the Aftershocks: Rethinking American Secularism and Religious PluralismChapter 15 The Jew in the American Public SquareChapter 16 From China to Jersey City: Religious Pluralism, Religious Liberty, and Human RightsChapter 17 Afterword: Looking Forward: From Jewish Interest to Judaic Principle