Faith and Public Policy turns the spotlight on the role of faith in the public square and the spiritual consequences of public policymaking. The work brings together fourteen of America's most respected writers on the intersection of faith and public policy to discuss the changing roles of government, church, education, and the family. Chapters investigate such issues as inner city programs, the secularization of faith-based programs, the impact of tax policy on the family, and the status of school vouchers. Contributions by Steve Forbes and William E. Simon illustrate the deep personal faith that informs and fuels the public leadership of America's leading thinkers and political figures. Readers will find Faith and Public Policy a timely and vigorous conversation on the commingling of government and religion in America, a country eager to return to the Founding Generation's idea of a nation in covenant with God.

Since the attacks of September 11, 2001, the tension between civil rights and public safety has dominated public discourse. On issues ranging from racial profiling to military tribunals, Americans have had to ask whether it is possible for the United States to defend itself against terrorism without violating the values and principles that lie at the heart of its democratic order. In Rights vs. Public Safety after 9/11, some of the nation's leading legal experts and social critics confront this question head-on. The contributors offer measured, often communitarian, approaches to topics such as the changes in United States immigration policy after September 11th, the practical and moral difficulties of racial profiling, the ethical dilemmas of an emergency response to a bioterrorist attack, and the role of the government in promoting national service. This balanced compilation of essays highlights where government will need to expand its authority in the fight against terrorism, where it risks overreaching, and how this new era might strengthen American society.

Same-Sex Marriage and Religious Liberty explores the religious freedom implications of defining marriage to include same-sex couples. It represents the only comprehensive, scholarly appraisal to date of the church-state conflicts virtually certain to arise from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage. It explores two principal questions. First, exactly what kind of religious freedom conflicts are likely to emerge if society embraces same-sex marriage? A redefinition of marriage would impact a host of laws where marital status affects legal rights-in housing, employment, health-care, education, public accommodations, and property, in addition to family law. These laws, in turn, regulate a host of religious institutions-schools, hospitals, and social service providers, to name a few-that often embrace a different definition of marriage. As a result, church-state conflicts will follow. This volume anticipates where and how these manifold disputes will arise. Second, how might these conflicts be resolved? If the disputes spark litigation under the Free Speech, Free Exercise, or Establishment Clauses of the First Amendment, who will prevail and why? When, if ever, should claims of religious liberty prevail over claims of sexual liberty? Drawing on experience in analogous areas of law, the volume explores whether it is possible to avoid these constitutional conflicts by statutory accommodation, or by separating religious marriage from civil marriage.

Douglas W. Kmiec -- at one time head of the Office of Legal Counsel to President Reagan -- is credited with helping win a sizeable Catholic majority in key electoral states for Barack Obama in 2008. Until recently, he served as U.S. Ambassador winning the confidence of his embassy and the profound admiration and high praise of his host country, the Republic of Malta. Nevertheless, Ambassador Kmiec offered to resign rather than allow his efforts to be undermined by the State Department bureaucracy contrary to his publicly announced White House portfolio to advance inter-faith diplomacy and understanding. The Department rushed to accept as the White House stayed bafflingly silent. Was the Department miffed at Kmiec's UN presentation describing Obama as a genuine honest broker in Arab-Israeli relations? Why did the White House not "have the back" of its scholarly ally? Today, when the culture war is defining the Republican ticket and the President is accused of starting a "war on religion" at home while abroad he is confronted by an understandably anxious Israel fearful that the President's reliance on diplomacy and sanctions will not corral Iran, a book written with grace, objectivity and charity toward one's opponents is a surprisingly welcome tonic from all the noise and deserves notice. In a genre that is at once biography, political commentary, and religious reflection, the book ties these seemingly disparate features of our lives together with success. The Romney and Santorum teams would like nothing better if they could win back the conservative, pro-life Catholic who served in the top ranks of the Reagan administration, but today Doug Kmiec remains Obama's Faith-filled Ambassador and fully expects the President to win a second term. Find out why. Here is the Ambassador's poignant recounting of the cost paid for his Obama support as well as the tragic deaths that now shape the rest of his time on earth. Together with actor Martin Sheen's spot-on foreword, the account will bring tears, laughter, even outrage, but by virtue of Kmiec's recounting of a Theology of Kindness, the book by sheer force of friendships won and lost has the potential to change your life for the better and elevate all of our political discourse. Read the book that Sojourner's Jim Wallis, NCR's Michael Sean Winters, and other open-minded faith and political leaders have described as "honest," "powerful." and "deeply compelling," from the author LATimes Tim Rutten found to be a "muzzled diplomat" seeking only to bring our politics into touch with civility, common ground, and "our better angels."

Same-Sex Marriage and Religious Liberty explores the religious freedom implications of defining marriage to include same-sex couples. It represents the only comprehensive, scholarly appraisal to date of the church-state conflicts virtually certain to arise from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage. It explores two principal questions. First, exactly what kind of religious freedom conflicts are likely to emerge if society embraces same-sex marriage? A redefinition of marriage would impact a host of laws where marital status affects legal rights_in housing, employment, health-care, education, public accommodations, and property, in addition to family law. These laws, in turn, regulate a host of religious institutions_schools, hospitals, and social service providers, to name a few_that often embrace a different definition of marriage. As a result, church-state conflicts will follow. This volume anticipates where and how these manifold disputes will arise. Second, how might these conflicts be resolved? If the disputes spark litigation under the Free Speech, Free Exercise, or Establishment Clauses of the First Amendment, who will prevail and why? When, if ever, should claims of religious liberty prevail over claims of sexual liberty? Drawing on experience in analogous areas of law, the volume explores whether it is possible to avoid these constitutional conflicts by statutory accommodation, or by separating religious marriage from civil marriage.

Since the attacks of September 11, 2001, the tension between civil rights and public safety has dominated public discourse. On issues ranging from racial profiling to military tribunals, Americans have had to ask whether it is possible for the United States to defend itself against terrorism without violating the values and principles that lie at the heart of its democratic order. In Rights vs. Public Safety after 9/11, some of the nation's leading legal experts and social critics confront this question head-on. The contributors offer measured, often communitarian, approaches to topics such as the changes in United States immigration policy after September 11th, the practical and moral difficulties of racial profiling, the ethical dilemmas of an emergency response to a bioterrorist attack, and the role of the government in promoting national service. This balanced compilation of essays highlights where government will need to expand its authority in the fight against terrorism, where it risks overreaching, and how this new era might strengthen American society.

Faith and Public Policy turns the spotlight on the role of faith in the public square and the spiritual consequences of public policymaking. The work brings together fourteen of America's most respected writers on the intersection of faith and public policy to discuss the changing roles of government, church, education, and the family. Chapters investigate such issues as inner city programs, the secularization of faith-based programs, the impact of tax policy on the family, and the status of school vouchers. Contributions by Steve Forbes and William E. Simon illustrate the deep personal faith that informs and fuels the public leadership of America's leading thinkers and political figures. Readers will find Faith and Public Policy a timely and vigorous conversation on the commingling of government and religion in America, a country eager to return to the Founding Generation's idea of a nation in covenant with God.