Beyond Religious Right and Secular Left Rhetoric The Road to Compromise

Many of America's political debates stem from media-constructed opposition between the religious right and secular left. However, the contentious dialogue between two seemingly-contrasting camps is based upon assumptions and stereotypes, rather than facts: the Christian right misrepresents the left as a movement inspired by moral relativism, while the left erroneously frames the Christian right as theocratically-driven. Beyond Religious Right and Secular Left Rhetoric uncovers the actual differences between these groups, examining how both movements have similar conceptual histories. By stressing their oft-ignored similarities (promotion of religious freedom, freedom of conscience, and separation of church and state), the book seeks to better inform partisans and the public at-large in order to move the debate beyond assumptions.

Karin Fry is Professor of Philosophy at the University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point, USA. She is the author of Arendt: A Guide for the Perplexed (2009). Her research interests include continental philosophy, social and political philosophy, and public philosophy.

Introduction
1. Christian Conservatives and the War against Secular Humanism
2. The Secular Left: 'Reason,' Religion, and the Threat of Theocracy
3. The Common Origins of the Right and the Left on Church and State