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

Natl Book Network, October 2005. Hardcover. New. Seeking to outline 'a robust religious freedom for all,' Seamus Hasson-a lawyer and founder of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty (a nonpartisan, interfaith public-interest law firm that protects the free expression of all religious traditions)-boldly claims he knows the way and leads us there. With sharp wit dashed disarmingly throughout fresh and accessible prose, Hasson divides the cultural extremists into two categories: the 'Pilgrims' and the 'Park Rangers.' Pilgrims call for a government-imposed orthodoxy while the Park Rangers pay for freedom by sacrificing public claims of absolute truth. Considering his topic through a series of stories that range from earnest and hapless to funny and tragic, Hasson introduces the origins of pluralism in America and tells us why tolerance will always be 'an inadequate basis for religious liberty.' He touches on the misadventures of Jefferson and Madison (via the establishment of 'certain inalienable rights' and the First Ammendment), the compromises that defined religious liberty in the Constitution, and the religious riots and legalized persecutions that followed. Having thus educated and entertained his readers, Hasson launches into an updated model of pluralism 'both honest and untidy, but firmly grounded' in this important (dare we say it?) truth: 'Man is born to seek freely the truth about God.' Freedom. It's how we're made and how we decide to organize our lives, giving us all the right to be wrong.