Godless Citizens in a Godly Republic addresses the history of atheists in America. As an atheist, I have a personal interest in this subject, but I think this book is worth a read for anyone interested in history, law, politics, and/or religion.
Isaac Kramnick and R. Lawrence Moore’s Godless Citizens in a Godly Republic uses history and court cases to ask the question: if the First Amendment to the Constitution protects religious liberty, why doesn’t it protect atheists?
For me, the most interesting section of the book dealt with the history of God in the pledge of allegiance. Specifically, I found the tortured reasoning of courts to uphold the constitutionality of God being added to the pledge of allegiance to be interesting and sad.
The books’ discussion of several people from America’s past was also interesting. The way identifying with atheism or being accused of being an atheist has negatively impacted people’s place in society and the way they have been remembered by history demonstrated how intolerant America has always been.
If you like Godless Citizens in a Godly Republic, you will also enjoy Kramnick and Moore’s