Customer Reviews

The Right to Be Wrong: Ending the Culture War over Religion in America

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Imagine a cross between James Madison, one of our greatest Founding Fathers, and Ernest Hemingway, one of the great modern writers of the English language. If you cannot imagine this, then read this book, for the author writes like Hemingway, as if he were having a friendly conversation with you, but unlike most books about religion and politics, he puts forward political ideas that Madison would most likely approve of.

The author's thesis also has the advantage of being sensible and pragmatic: we should allow for more robust religious pluralism in our society. In many ways, this is precisely the same formula James Madison proposes for secular "factions" (i.e. interest groups).

In the Federalist Papers, Madison correctly notes that "factions" are dangerous, but his originality lies in arguing that we should have more factions, not less, because the more factions there are, the more difficult it is for any one faction to achieve dominance. This is, in effect, what the author proposes for 'religious factions', and I think it is a brilliant solution, a Madisonian solution.

In addition, the author provides a very readable history of religious intolerance on American soil. He gave me a much deeper perspective of the problem than I had before I read his book, and indirectly, he made it easier for me to understand the motives of religious fanatics in the present (especially the problem of intolerance in the Muslim world).

By far the best book I've read on religion in America. Hasson is delightfully witty as he skewers both extremes in the culture war. One extreme, "the pilgrims," are people of whatever faith (Muslims, Christians, etc,) who want their religion to the be the only official one. The other extreme, "the park rangers," want to drive all religion from public life. Hasson's solution is to welcome all faiths into the public square.

Hasson is, however, no relativist. He doesn't think that the various faiths that he'd welcome into public life are all somehow true. As he says in his introduction "on any given day, I think most of my clients are wrong. But I firmly believe that...they have the right to be wrong."

Throughout the book Hasson reflects on a series of stories, beginning with arguments aboard the Mayflower and ending with arguments on Al Jazeera. They are, at turns, funny, poignant and tragic, but they are all exceptionally well written. Who would have thought a book on religious liberties would be a page turner...but it is. Buy 2 copies--one for yourself and one for a confused friend.

In this highly readable book, preeminent constitutional lawyer and First-Amendment scholar Seamus Hasson provides a worthy tour of Church-State relations at law in America.

Mr. Hasson brings a wealth of real-life cases that read stranger than fiction, with such amusing examples as the parking-barrier worshippers, and, beyond the levity, brilliant analysis of one aspect of the culture wars.

The book poses provocative questions and points to some principles that may avert our impalement on the horns of dilemma, largely by providing a rare coherent take on the so-called religion clauses of the First Amendment of the Constitution.

If any aspect of religious liberty is important to you, you will absolutely want to read Seamus Hasson's engaging book, and you will want to give away copies to your friends -- and your ideological adversaries (why not? you'll win points for generosity and plant seeds of reason).

Never has so painless a remedy been offered over-the-counter to ease the pandemic of (let's put it kindly) limited grasp of the history and issues at the heart of church-state relations and religious freedom in America. Hasson provides a surprisingly complete and highly-readable narrative that leaves you feeling as if you (finally!) understand where this controversy has been, where it's now stalled, and on what basis it actually can be eased.

The book's ambitious subtitle, "Ending the Culture War Over Religion in America," is just that -- ambitious. But, heaven knows, we need a good snort of ambition to not abandon our national quest and settle in the foggy vale of current judicial confusion over application of the Constitution's minimalist Establishment Clause to the States by its incorporation into the Fourteenth Amendment. Confused already? Well, the courts aren't doing much better.

Hasson points to the historic basis of individual and collective religious freedoms in rights arising from our nature as free beings. Every person must be acknowledged free to follow -- and publicly express -- his or her own conscience, regardless of law. This may seem idealistic, but it holds the clarity and universality lacking in all the other attempted approaches the author colorfully describes.

If, having absorbed the history of "Pilgrims and Park Rangers", the "sacred parking barrier" worshippers, and the other characters Hasson marches across the stage, you can arrive at grappling with the origin and basis of your religious freedom, and your neighbor's, you will have gained something truly important -- and we will all be better equipped to take the promise of liberty forward in this generation.

This right-sized volume should be a great holiday read for you and your friends. The whole book is an unexpected page-turner. Hurrah, Hasson!

A witty and disarming book. There is a big provacative idea in each chapter, but it doesn't seem like you're reading a big provactative book. It seems like a book of mostly funny - though some very poignant - stories ("The case of the sacred parking barrier" is worth the price of the book alone!). The Right to be Wrong discusses religious liberty from many standpoints: legal, historical, cultural. But it doesn't feel like a law or history book either. The best book I've read all year - it rings so true, yet is so entertaining that I've bought several copies for gifts (both Christmas, Hanukah, and "Holiday" gifts alike!). It's changed the way I think. Don't miss it.

Let's say someone is writing the constitution for our new government. They declare that you have an inherent right to musical, artistic and literary freedom - as long as you don't play your music publicly, or display your pictures where people can see them, or publish your books. You would rightly say, that isn't freedom at all. Artistic expression is meant to be ... expressed! Well, the same is true of religious expression. Whether you believe in it or not is completey irrelevant. The point is that public expression of what we each believe to be the ultimate truths of life is a natural, normal, universal (and exciting) part of being human. Saying that people should only express their religion in the privacy of their own homes with the shades drawn (and calling that freedom) is literally inhuman. But allowing for the greatest amount of diverse religious expression in a culture exemplifies the very best of humanism.

This book is a gem. Buy multiple copies for friends and family. It will clear up your thinking on this subject.

(Now, if we can just get the Supreme Court to read it.)

The Right To Be Wrong: Ending The Culture War Over Religion In America by Kevin Seamus Hasson (Founder and Chairman of the Becket Fund for Religious Library), addresses the social, political, and ethical issues arising from what has been popularly described as America's "culture war" between persons of faith and the larger secular society. One side demands that only their brand of religion be permitted in public; the other charges that no religious ever belong in the public sphere. As an ever-growing assortment of faiths with their own interpretations of spiritual truths are caught in the middle, moderates of all persuasions ask themselves: how can we keep peace, integrity, respect for one another's beliefs, and sanity in a nation that supposedly champions the freedom of worship? The Right To Be Wrong draws from experience of history, from Puritans' paranoia of dissenting opinions to how the Quakers invented a philosophy of conscientious objection to Madison's "greatest failure" that was his early version of the first amendment, and more. With the lessons of history learned, The Right To Be Wrong proceeds with contemplation on where religious liberty comes from, what the first amendment means as one approaches midlife, and what steps can best be taken to end the culture war. The Right To Be Wrong might easily be overlooked amid more stringent outcries on either side of the culture war - yet its stable, reasoned style of discourse is just what America currently needs most.

First, for those who may be frightened away by a 'serious' book addressing a weighty topic, let me say that the book is written in plain, easy-to-read English, and that the author's occasionally wry sense of humor shows through and contributes to an enjoyable read.

Substantively, Hasson raises thought-provoking questions that can take you back to philosophy class, only in a more understandable manner than the prof probably provided. At the core of his premise is the idea -- enshrined in American founding documents -- that the right to believe is a natural right, and one that government has no authority to interfere with whatsoever. Where that right comes from and what it means provide, ultimately, the rock for creating the suggested (and sensible) approach to 'ending the culture war over religion' which the author urges. Believe that a government should 'tolerate' different religions and beliefs within its borders? Hasson doesn't, and by the time he's finished explaining why, you'll agree with him.

Hasson's a good storyteller too. You'll meet historical figures here that you vaguely remember from studying colonial america in school, only this time you'll get a better understanding of why their stories are important. Why shouldn't Mary Dyer have been hanged?

This book should be required reading for, well, everyone. Or, at least, everyone, 'religious' or not, with a good faith desire to see an end to wars both cultural and otherwise amongst those of differing beliefs.

I highly recommend this book if you are interested in a thoroughly-engaging, very informative look at the evolution of religious liberty in America.

I breezed through it quickly because the author has a quirky, conversational style (and a great sense of humor -- I laughed out loud a couple times during my reading). This style, however, is not an indication of lack of depth. He clearly has a thorough understanding of the history of religion in America, from the early colonies (where things weren't so free) through the construction of the First Amendment and on to the interpretations of the Amendment up to the time the book was written (2005).

What I also liked about this book was the author's conviction that religious liberty is a "natural human right" based on aspects of human nature itself. As he puts it: "....saying that people have religious liberty because God told you so convinces only the people who believe that God talks to you..."

So, oddly enough, he is a man who passionately defends religious freedom (and sounds very faith-filled himself)....but believes that right does not spring from religion itself per se. Or rather, does not need to be argued from that standpoint.

Highly, highly recommend it.

Kevin Hasson describes two groups defined by opposing views of church and state relationships--the "Park Rangers," who want religion to be exclusively private, and "Pilgrims," who want to use the state to coerce the religious consciences of those with whom they disagree. He argues that if either the secularists or the religious moralists "win," culture loses freedom. Hasson says it is wrong to insist upon no religion in culture and wrong to insist upon one religion in culture. Rather, he believes we must grant others freedom without surrendering our own allegiance to truth as we see it. In other words, we must grant them "the right to be wrong."

The thesis of this book is quite similar to Noah Feldman's "Divided By God," Divided by God: America's Church-State Problem--and What We Should Do About It.

Hasson is the founder and chairman of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a nonpartisan, interfaith, public interest law firm that protects the free expression of all religious traditions.

This book didn't give me any new ideas, unlike Feldman's book which did, but it is worth reading if you're into Church and State and/or Religion and Politics. I enjoyed reading it, but then again, I'm into this stuff.