The Americanization of Religious Minorities: Confronting the Constitutional Order

by Eric Mazur

What happens when a minority religious group's beliefs run counter to the laws and principles of the American constitution? How do Americans reconcile the conflicting demands of church and state? In The Americanization of Religious Minorities, Eric Michael Mazur recounts the experiences of Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, and Native Americans as cases in which minority religious groups seek to practice their faith in a constitutional order that recognizes a higher authority different from, and sometimes incompatible with, their own. Mazur identifies three basic strategies these minority religious groups can establishing a separate peace; accommodating their theology to political realities; and engaging in sustained conflict. He shows that, in order to practice its faith without hindrance from the law, a member of a religious minority must somehow buy into the principles and values of America's constitutional government. He also concludes that the closer a minority's beliefs are to Protestant Christianity, the easier the accommodation. Throughout, Mazur emphasizes the experience of religious minorities in dealing with this problem. A fascinating investigation of religious groups' right to practice their faith, The Americanization of Religious Minorities will be of interest to students and scholars of American religion, American politics, and sociology. "[I believe] the First Amendment represents the gift with the greatest potential to be given by this country to the world. But I also believe it is a promise that, like the messiah, is always coming but never here. We must understand what we have done to others who have faced the dilemma of being religious minorities in this culture so that we can better understand the limits, and the potential, of our hopes for greater religious freedom." -- from the Preface "It has long been accepted that no freedom is absolute, but we do not often examine the implicit boundaries set on religious freedom or think about the ramifications for religious communities that -- for any number of reasons -- do not consider themselves, or are not considered by others, part of the mainstream. Part of the value of this analysis rests in its exploration of how minority religious communities balance the desire to join the dominant culture, on the one hand, with the sometimes conflicting desire to maintain a particularistic community identity, on the other." -- from the Introduction

Genres: Religion, History

224 pages, Hardcover

First published September 22, 1999

Reviews

[Zhelana · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not entirely sure what the thesis sentence of this book is. I mean it was interesting. It compared the court cases used by Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormons, and Native Americans to try to get their beliefs and practices accepted by the US. But I'm really not sure what overall point he was trying to make. Also, he doesn't really explain why he chose those three religions as opposed to Muslims, Jews, and Hindus. I mean the JW and Mormons make sense together as they are Christian Cults, but then why Native Americans? Or why not write a slightly longer book and look at other non-Christian religions? The book was very short, only 150 or so pages, so it could have been longer and taken a look at court cases involving other non-Christians. It failed to live up to the title of the book by only looking at three different cases, none of which have really fully integrated into America. I don't know. I wanted so much more from this book and I just didn't get it.