Overview
This study compares and evaluates the nature of church-state relations in the United States, the Netherlands, Australia, Germany, and England. The authors conclude that the American conception of church-state separation, with its traditional emphasis on avoiding government establishment of religion, actually discriminates against religious groups by denying religious organizations, particularly schools, access to government services provided by other organizations. The authors persuasively argue that the United States can learn a great deal from these other nations in promoting religious neutrality and the free exercise of religion.Synopsis
Now in a thoroughly revised and updated edition, this essential text offers a rigorous, systematic comparison of church-state relations in the United States, Australia, the Netherlands, Germany, and England. Stephen V. Monsma and J. Christopher Soper examine the historical roots and contemporary strategies of the different approaches each government has taken. Providing clarity on the little-understood, evolving relationship between church and state in the West, this book provides an invaluable comparative analysis of a topic that is increasingly a source of profound political and social conflict. The authors persuasively argue that the United States can learn a great deal from other Western democracies in promoting religious neutrality and the free exercise of religion.
Ted G. Jelen
A marvelous book. The authors perform the rare and difficult feat of generating a genuinely cross-national analysis, while paying strict, detailed attention to the nuances of each country. After reading this book, no one will think about church-state relations in quite the same way. This book will change the manner in which church-state relations are contested in the United States, and is required reading for anyone, at any level.
Editorials
Choice
The book concludes that state financial aid may actually encourage religious freedom by making it more widely available. Upper-division undergraduates and above.Journal of Church and State
An exceptionally illuminating book...this volume is, in short, an excellent piece of scholarship and deserves a wide readership.— George Moyser
Public Policy
As a sourcebook, this volume is without peer. The authors have donea fine job of assembling a remarkable array of material and fashioning it into a coherent whole. The Challenge of Pluralism offers a series of well-executed portraits of five nations that attempt to harmonize the religious sentiments of their citizens with the demands of public policy.— Kenneth D. Wald
George Moyser
An exceptionally illuminating book...this volume is, in short, an excellent piece of scholarship and derserves a wide readership.Ted G. Jelen
A marvelous book. The authors perform the rare and difficult feat of generating a genuinely cross-national analysis, while paying strict, detailed attention to the nuances of each country. After reading this book, no one will think about church-state relations in quite the same way. This book will change the manner in which church-state relations are contested in the United States, and is required reading for anyone, at any level.Australian Journal of Political Science
The argument of the book is not why America is right, but on the contrary, why the other democracies do it better. The methodology is comparative only after the historical evolution of church-state relationships in each society has been examined with some subtlety. It is a model of a worthwhile comparative study.— Michael Hogan
Acta Politica
An eye-opener.Journal for the Social Scientific Study of Religion
Monsma and Soper's project opens up the possibility and vitality of constructive religion in American public life.Australian Journal of Political Science
“The argument of the book is not why America is right, but on the contrary, why the other democracies do it better. The methodology is comparative only after the historical evolution of church-state relationships in each society has been examined with some subtlety. It is a model of a worthwhile comparative study.”Journal Of Church and State, Vol. 41, No.1, Winter 99
An exceptionally illuminating book...this volume is, in short, an excellent piece of scholarship and derserves a wide readership.Public Policy, Vol.18, No.2, 1999
As a sourcebook, this volume is without peer. The authors have donea fine job of assembling a remarkable array of material and fashioning it into a coherent whole.The Challenge of Pluralism offers a series of well-executed portraits of five nations that attempt to harmonize the religious sentiments of their citizens with the demands of public policy.
West European Politics
The Challenge of Pluralism is a genuine comparative study undertaken by two political scientists surveying church-state relations and it brings together a great deal of valuable historical, legal, and other information-some of it very up to date-relevant to its subject.— John T.S. Madeley, London School of Economics
West European Politics
The Challenge of Pluralism is a genuine comparative study undertaken by two political scientists surveying church-state relations and it brings together a great deal of valuable historical, legal, and other information-some of it very up to date-relevant to its subject.First Things
A useful comparative study... This survey can help Americans appreciate the peculiarities, both good and bad, of our church-state arrangements.Journal for the Social Scientific Study of Religion
Monsma and Soper's project opens up the possibility and vitality of constructive religion in American public life.— Tokunbo Adelekan, Princeton Theological Seminary
Australian Journal Of Political Science
The argument of the book is not why America is right, but on the contrary, why the other democracies do it better. The methodology is comparative only after the historical evolution of church-state relationships in each society has been examined with some subtlety. It is a model of a worthwhile comparative study.— Michael Hogan
Acta Politica
An eye-opener.— Hans-Martien ten Napel