Religion 355 | Fall 2007
Professor: Melissa Wilcox
Religious Intolerance in the Contemporary U.S. explores several important facets of religious tolerance and intolerance in the U.S. today. It begins with the development of religious pluralism and the separation of church and state, but then questions the limits of this separation through examining the evidence for "public Protestantism" in the U.S. The rest of the course examines instances of religious intolerance in the U.S. - both intolerance of specific religions and religiously-based intolerance of specific groups - in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. We'll explore the contours of religious intolerance, from hate crimes and violent protest to more subtle events and attitudes in our own communities and our own lives. Equally importantly, we'll also consider ways to combat intolerance in all its myriad forms.
View the special print issue online or download the PDF.
Student Papers
- Representations of Islam in the United States' Presidential Rhetoric, Post-September 11, 2001
Michela Corcorran - The theological justifications for 'Christian' racism and why Jesus must be central to combat them
Hilary Davis - Capitalism and Protestant Dominance
Kate Farrington - Creating Identity: The Fragmentation of White Racist Movements in America
Teal Greyhavens - Separation or Death: One Hundred Years of White Supremacist-Black Nationalist Alliances in America
Dana Johnson - Conflicting Jurisprudence in Lyng v. Northwest: A case study in Native American Religious Free Exercise
Aaron Rose - A Recipe for Religious Intolerance
Mary Simpson-Stanton
Further Reading
- Hammond, Phillip E., David W. Machacek, and Eric Michael Mazur. Religion on Trial: How Supreme Court Trends Threaten Freedom of Conscience in America. Walnut Creek: AltaMira, 2004.
- Davis, Derek H. and Barry Hankins, eds. New Religious Movements and Religious Liberty in America. Waco, Tx.: Baylor University Press, 2002.
- Smith, Huston. A Seat at the Table: Huston Smith in Conversation with Native Americans on Religious Freedom. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2007.
- Feldman, Stephen. Please Don't Wish Me a Merry Christmas: A Critical History of the Separation of Church and State. New York: New York University Press, 1998.
- Bushart, Howard L., John R. Craig, and Myra Barnes. Soldiers of God: White Supremacists and their Holy War for America. New York: Kensington Books, 1998.
- Sells, Michael Anthony and Emran Qureshi. The New Crusades: Constructing the Muslim Enemy. New York: Columbia University Press, 2003.
- Pellegrini, Ann and Janet R. Jakobsen. Love the Sin: Sexual Regulation and the Limits of Religious Tolerance. New York: New York University Press, 2003.