Customer Reviews

The Divided States of America?: What Liberals AND Conservatives are missing in the God-and-country shouting match!

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
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I wore out my highlighter on this book. I was fortunate enough to hear Dr. Land at a church in our area and bought this book there. I ordered another for my Father-in -law from amazon because he asked me what I thought was going on with our country. Dr. Land says it better than I could.

As a younger reader I definitely found this book a refreshing breath of fresh air as I have only really experienced in my lifetime the "state" at which the separation of church/state debate is today along with the shouting matches that have ensued. It was truly enlightening to read of the faith of many of our most prominent presidents and to see how they envisioned freedom of religion and balanced their personal faiths with the running of our country. I never knew so many of presidents had such a strong faith and to hear the prayers, speeches, and addresses given by so many of them was enlightening to me. I wondered why I never learned of these things in public school. What a difference of opinion our founding fathers had on this topic...definitely worth reading.

Recommend to ppl who:
- want to know a constitutionally acceptable, faith affirming position on church/state issues.
- want to learn new things you probably never knew of our American presidents and our history.
- enjoy reading informative book on a hard issue...i learned a lot.

Thanks

Dr. Land graduated magna cum laude from Princeton and received his PhD from Oxford. I've always appreciated his willingness to take on the difficult issues and provide a Christian Statesman response. If you want to find well reasoned arguments for a number of difficult issues we face when we venture outside our churches, check out his book "The Divided States of America."

He presents a convincing model of Steering clear of religious "avoidance" on the left and religious "acknowledgement" on the right. He presents a workable view of "accommodation" for individual religious rights.

His views are peppered with anecdotes that are only accumulated by someone who is active in the Culture Wars.

I think he occasionally gives too much credence to what the liberal left wishes were true about the conservative right. He also presents the liberal viewpoint of a "Christian America" and the caricature the left has molded it into. It almost seems as if he's willing to cede ground to eliminate future unpopular battles.

As a former school board chairman I read with great interest his chapter dealing with religious accommodation in public schools. His proposal allows for accommodation of a religiously diverse student body. I can't imagine it ever becoming a reality, but it sure would be fun to watch.


I can't say I agree with every one of his opinions, but his book will certainly make you think through an issue's pros and cons.

I would give it an A- and thoroughly recommend it be added to your bookshelf.

Dr. Land has done a great job with this book. He maps out a middle ground in the church/state separation debate that is very understandable. Both the novice and the expert will find the book readable, engaging, and thought-provoking. A lady at my church has already read the book and asked me to consider teaching a special six-week Sunday School class based on it. Anyone who wants to know a constitutionally acceptable, faith affirming position on church/state issues must read this book.

When it comes to politics (or religion, though that is not the point here), most books come from the point of either why the author's political philosophy is right and/or why those who disagree with the author is wrong. The result is an increase in polarization. Some of the books along that line deserve to be written, but they help only in presenting the problem, not in solving it.

"The Divided States Of America" is written from the point of view of trying to heal the breach, of trying to reconcile Christian brothers that disagree on political issues (or possibly just fellow Americans).

Just as welcome, though, is the fact that Land is not promoting unity at the expense of convictions. Rather, his goal is to help others understand their differences. His success is indicated that Senator Joe Lieberman (D-Conn) wrote the foreward, and praise on the cover is written by former Secretary of State (under Clinton) Madeline Albright.

One major theme in this book is a proper understanding of separation of church and state. Land favors the ana-baptist approach, which is to have a pluralistic country where the state does not mandate a particular belief structure but tolerates all, while maintaining people in office the constitutional freedom to hold and express their religious view. The other view is the Assorted Crazy Loons Unleashed view, which basically is meant to intimidate people into not expressing their religious views, which is an essential part of a person.

Richard Land does an excellent job dealing with the following facts:

1. Persecution of Christians (particularly Baptists) by other Christians, including in American history, leading to the Ana-Baptist and also the constitutional view of Separation of Church And State.

2. There has been religious expression on the part of our government from George Washington on, that it isn't new with Bush, and that it wasn't considered a problem until someone made a mistake of trying to mandate secularalism as the state religion.

3. The militant effort of secularists to eliminate any hints of Christianity in society, which is not promoting religious liberty but hindering it.

Thank you, Rev. Land, for writing this needed book. Hope it succeeds in uniting true Christians in an area that is not an essential to faith.

Having always been a tremendous admirer of the Southern Baptist church, I have been intereted in what Dr. Richard Land has had to say for many years & I would like to thank him for this excellent book. There is much too much shouting from the left & the right (although far more often from the left) on what role & what kind of role that religion should play in American politics & culture. Anyone wishing to hear a rare & thoughtful balanced look should read this book as soon as possible.

I thought it was a well written book on the political standings of Liberals and Conservatives. I thought the author was very objective and "hit the mail on the head" most of the time.