Why America Needs Religion: Secular Modernity and Its Discontents - Couverture souple

Lewy, Guenter

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 0802841627 ISBN 13 : 9780802841629

Editeur : William B Eerdmans Publishing Co, 1996

Synopsis

This is a print on demand book and is therefore non- returnable.

What is wrong with America? It has often called itself a Christian nation, yet its social and moral problems are legion. The increasing rates of crime, juvenile delinquency, teenage pregnancy, sexual promiscuity, and divorce are frequently linked to the declining importance of religious belief. But is there more than a presumed link between the strength of personal religiousness and moral behavior? Yes, says Guenter Lewy, and the large quantity of empirical data in existence which establishes that link ought to move people -- Christians and non-Christians alike -- to sit up and take note.

In this trenchant analysis of the moral decline of modern America, Lewy describes the moral crisis caused by secular modernity and points to the role of religiousness -- especially Christian religiousness -- as a necessary bulwark against today's social ills. This work is all the more intriguing in that Lewy is an agnostic who has nonetheless concluded that a society that cuts itself off from the religious roots of its moral heritage is doomed to decline.

Lewy traces the rise of secularism in Western society, focusing particularly on the cult of individualism, and describes the social consequences of the weakened role of religion. He demonstrates that the crisis of the family and the rise of the underclass in our inner cities are linked to the decline of traditional values and shows, on the basis of surveys and other empirical data, that genuine religiousness can ward off some of the corrosive effects of modernity. Lewy concludes by calling on Christians, adherents of other faiths, and true humanists to join forces in the struggle to reverse the current ethos of radical individualism that threatens the moral integrity of our society.

A propos du livre

À propos de l?auteur

Guenter Lewy is professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. His other books include Religion and Revolution and Peace and Revolution: The Moral Crisis of American Pacifism

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: William B Eerdmans Publishing Co
• Date d'édition: 1996
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 0802841627
• ISBN 13: 9780802841629
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 176
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: GS1 Slovakia; https://www.gs1sk.org; ; Nantersk� 23; Žilina; 010 08; Slovaquie