Close Encounters With the Religious Right: Journeys into the Twilight Zone of Religion and Politics / Edition 1

by Robert Boston

Overview

What does Pat Robertson's Christian Coalition really want? What secret agenda lies behind radio counselor James Dobson's Focus on the Family? Who are the Promise Keepers and what are their ultimate goals? Why do so many leaders of the religious right engage in gay bashing? What would these groups do to our public school system, or to our government, if they were in power? Close Encounters with the Religious Right takes you behind the scenes to answer these questions and gives the reader a rare glimpse of a world the average American may not even realize exists.

Author Robert Boston, of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, has spent the past twelve years doggedly tracking the religious right. As a "permanent resident alien" he has attended their meetings, read their publications, watched their videos, and debated their leaders in the national media. Boston contends that despite claims to the contrary, the religious right is not dead as a political force and may be stronger than ever. Backed by millions of dollars, powerful television and radio ministries that reach every corner of the nation, and slick magazines, zealous right-wing groups are still very much involved in politics and are determined to convert America into a fundamentalist "Christian" nation that conforms to their narrow definition of Christianity. The next few years, says Boston, could determine the fate of traditional American liberties like separation of church and state and freedom of the press.

Close Encounters with the Religious Right is an eye-opening expose, revealing a sometimes funny but more often disturbing world of fanaticism and extremism.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781573927970
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	05/01/2000
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	289
Product dimensions:	6.03(w) x 9.15(h) x 0.65(d)

About the Author

Robert Boston, assistant director of communications for Americans United for Separation of Church and State, is the author of The Most Dangerous Man in America? Pat Robertson and the Rise of the Christian Coalition and Why the Religious Right Is Wrong about Separation of Church and State.

Editorial Reviews

A title which examines connections between leaders and systems, considering underlyingagendas and the experiences of the religious right. Boston has spent years attending meetings, reading their publications, and interviewing their leaders: this explores their agenda to convert America into a fundamentalist Christian nation with specific goals. Bela Scheiber and Carla Selby edits Therapeutic Touch (804-6), probing an unproven medical therapy being taught in over 80 colleges across the country. This provides a history of Therapeutic Touch, focussing on ethics, battles around its validity, and its implications for spiritual, philosophical, and health-care fields alike.
—Internet Book Watch

Internet Book Watch