|
|
Article: Political tolerance and God's wrath in the United States.(Report)
- Article from:
- Sociology of Religion
- Article date:
- March 22, 2008
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2008 Association for the Sociology of Religion. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
Persecution for the expression of opinions seems to me perfectly
logical.
--Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes (1919)
The U.S. Declaration of Independence asserts, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." With this eloquent proclamation, Thomas Jefferson indicates that prioritizing the rights of the individual does not undercut but, in fact, is premised on the idea of an almighty creator. Nonetheless, this famous sentiment appears at odds with the empirical reality that religious individuals in ...