American Jews and the Separationist Faith

During the past half-century, most American Jews have believed that religion should be rigorously separated from public life: the more thoroughly secular the society, the safer it is for Jews. But now, many are having second thoughts. Jewish leaders are increasingly arguing for "equal time" and "equal protection" in laws and for government policies that encourage free exercise of religion rather than simply preventing its establishment. Forty Jewish writers, professors, lawyers, rabbis and policy analysts offer widely varying perspectives on what the role of religion in American public life should be, and describe how, if at all, their opinion has changed. Among the contributors are Hadley, Arkes, Jerold S. Auerbach, Midge Decter, Abraham Foxman, Joshua Haberman, Milton Himmelfarb, Michael Lerner, Alan Mittleman, David Novak, Cynthia Ozick, Dennis Prager, Earl Raab, Marc D. Stern, Aaron Wildavsky, and Ruth R. Wisse.