Religious Leaders and Faith-Based Politics: Ten Profiles offers a powerful and timely analysis of the dynamic relationship between religious leaders of all faiths and political activism in the United States. By examining the lives and works of such prominent leaders as Reverend Floyd Flake, Bishop T. D. Jakes, Reverend Al Sharpton, Elder Dallin H. Oakes, Rabbi Daniel Lapin, Reverend Benjamin Chavis-Muhammed, and Sister Maureen Fiedler, this volume reveals an American tradition of religious influence on public policy that continues to be an important hallmark of our democracy. From the colonial era to the present, religious leaders have raised AmericansO moral and political awareness of countless issues, including revolution, slavery, temperance, civil rights, and, most recently, the culture wars. This book is the first to explore the renewed and intense commitment of evangelicals, Catholics, Muslims, and Jews to preach, teach, and participate in politics today. Among the questions answered in this book: are religious leaders today as active and vocal as the radicals of the turbulent 1960s? Are these activists still involved in civil rights or have other contentious topics such as abortion and traditional family values preempted such issues? In the wake of the 2000 election and at the start of a new administration committed to elevating the role of religion in politics, Jo Renee Formicola, Hubert Morken, and this prominent collection of contributors ask might we expect greater American religious involvement in the years ahead? This is essential reading for anyone interested in religious and political activism, or the evolving relationship between church and state in America.

Should the wall of separation between church and state be permeable or inviolable? This question has been hotly contested since the nation's founding and contentious debates persist today. With a collection of the most significant documents and an introduction by Clarke E. Cochran that provides the historical context of the debate, prominent scholars Mary Segers and Ted Jelen debate the impact of organized religion on the democratic process, examine its influence on political discourse, and discuss its significance for the creation of public policy. The authors illuminate the constitutional implications of using religion to cultivate public morality and discuss the complexities of creating a civic-minded citizenry in a pluralistic society.