Description: "Evan Haefeli argues that America's professed religious tolerance arose out of necessity, since no standard could prevail on its polyglot immigrants. More important, Haefeli ties the emergence of religious toleration to events worldwide, creating a true transnationalist history that links developing American realities to political and social conflicts and resolutions in Europe, showing the ways in which the codification of relationships among states, churches, and publics was endlessly contested in the colonial era. This is an ambitious attempt to reconcile our understandings of power-secular and otherwise- and refine our narratives about what came to be seen as American values"--
Brief description:
Evan Haefeli is associate professor of history at Texas A&M University.
Review Quotes: "It is a common thought that religious pluralism in the USA was intentionally emphasized by the settlers from the landing of the Mayflower in Plymouth Rock in 1607 to after the founding of the nation. . . . Through extensive research on the founding of multiple English colonies, Haefeli makes a convincing argument that religious pluralism was, in fact, accidental and the product of the utility of colonialism economics mixed with rising religious pluralism throughout the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries in England."-- "Religious Studies Review"