This volume,
God, Religion, and Civil Governance, aims to confirm that
liberty and autonomy are essential to contemporary Western democratic
societies. However, so is religion. Religious freedom actually serves
as the most basic liberty that protects our other freedoms and human
rights, while serving the common good. Religious freedom, in this view,
cannot be reduced to the freedom to worship the God of the universe.
It also includes recognizing the moral structure of the universe and the
moral principles that honor the basic dignity of each human person
from conception to death. Although Christianity has influenced Western
civilization's notion of God, religious freedom, its laws, and forms
of governance, the effect of secularization and extreme views on the
separation of church and state have created new challenges for Western
civilization. Claims about certain individual rights and governmental
prerogatives have been used to limit religious and other basic freedoms
and rights. This volume addresses the major issues concerning God,
religion, and civil governance in a way that offers guidance for a civic
culture that seeks both a sure sense of its roots and a level measure for
governance supported by just law, human dignity, and virtuous character.
ABOUT THE EDITOR
Craig Steven Titus is Associate Professor and Director of Integrative Studies
at the Institute for the Psychological Sciences (Arlington, VA) and is the author of
Resilience and the Virtue of Fortitude: Aquinas in Dialogue with the Psychosocial
Sciences (CUA Press, 2006) and numerous articles and book chapters. He has edited
14 books.
