Piety & Politics: READ THIS BOOK!

The Reverend Barry W. Lynn is the Executive Director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. A devout and liberal Christian, an ordained and practicing minister of the United Church of Christ, and an attorney, Rev. Lynn has been an activist leading the charge against religious incursion into our government and our personal freedoms for many years.

I recently read Rev. Lynn’s book “Piety & Politics: The Right-Wing Assault on Religious Freedom”. His grasp of our history, the Constitution, and the dangers of mixing religion and government is both educational and heartening to hear, especially from a clergyman. He doesn’t hesitate to openly chastise those bastions of the Religious Right who falsely promote the fallacy that our laws were derived from Christian or biblical precepts, or that this is a “Christian Nation”. This man stands at the top of my list of truth tellers, modern patriots, and defenders of our freedoms.

The following is the book review I posted to amazon.com. It’s not my typical review, but should serve as a strong recommendation to read this important work.

An Open Letter to Rev. Lynn:

Dear Rev. Lynn,

I just read Piety & Politics and wanted to say "thank you". I just said it by joining Americans United for Separation of Church and State moments ago, but I wanted to say it personally and publicly.

As an atheist I all too often fall into the trap of lumping all Christians together as bible thumping religious fanatics. People who, in spite of my Vietnam service, Bronze Star, and Army Commendation medals, perceive me to be "… non-patriotic, perhaps not even an American" as George Bush Sr. once said, simply because I reject their "beliefs".

People who would happily force every school to promote organized prayer, control women’s reproductive rights, intercede into family decisions of when the terminally ill should be allowed to die, impose their biblical interpretations upon our secular Constitution, and subjugate anyone who's sexual preference, personal philosophy, or religious views do not parallel theirs.

I know that the people of whom I speak aren't the majority of Christians, but I need to be reminded of that from time to time. Thanks for reminding me, and thanks for helping preserve America's freedoms from those who would truncate them.

I encourage every defender of the Constitution and the “wall of separation”, theist or atheist, to buy this book and read it before the presidential election. Here’s a link to it on amazon.com. You can buy it used for under $1.00 + $3.99 shipping.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0307346544/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top