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Focus on the economy and civil religion
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Self-interest 'wrongly understood'
The financial meltdown and the decay of civil religion
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Dear {GENDER} {LAST_NAME}:

The worldwide financial meltdown stemming from overvalued sub-prime mortgages has shaken the very basis of America’s free-market system: Faith that acting in one’s self-interest will lead to the economic betterment of all.

“Those of us who have looked to the self-interest of lending institutions to protect shareholder’s equity – myself especially – are in a state of shocked disbelief,” Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan told the Congressional Committee of Government Oversight and Reform.

The University of Massachusetts Press Book, Religious Liberty in America: The First Amendment in Historical and Contemporary Perspective cover by Bruce T. Murray, analyzes where laissez-faire capitalism comes into conflict with civil religion – Americans’ sense of connection between themselves, the state, and a higher authority.

Even Adam Smith, the "founding father" of America’s economic system, had no illusions about the limitations of his theories. The "invisible hand" that guides economic behavior confers benefits to the greater society, but it does so only incidentally – “without intending it, without knowing it,” Smith wrote. "The sole end which they [owners of capital] propose from the labours of all the thousands whom they employ is the gratification of their own vain and insatiable desires.”

Religious Liberty in America pinpoints and examines the intersection of economics and civil religion – from the colonial period to modern times. Murray considers why the United States remains singularly religious among the developed nations, while "social Darwinism" dominates the economic realm.

“This book is a splendid presentation of the First Amendment – with civil religion as a parallel theme – especially as presently related to so many issues in American political and religious life. Other books on these issues have been appearing of late, but none as clear and thorough as this one.”
G.H. Shriver, Professor Emeritus, Georgia Southern University

Religious Liberty in America is available at numerous university libraries, and it may be purchased from the University of Massachusetts Press.

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