Colonial Counterfactuals, the American Separationist Mindset, and Open-Minded Discourse on the Establishment Clause

Bibliographic Data

ID3566664
AuthorsJoseph Prud''Homme (0000-0002-9038-1876, Washington College, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume14
Issue6
Pages711
Publication date2023-05-28
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueReligions (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2077-1444 • E-ISSN: 2077-1444
PublisherMDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT)
DOI10.3390/rel14060711
OpenAlexW4378619242
LanguageEN
References cited14

This work first develops the idea of an American Separationist Mindset-a deeply rooted and often unthinking supposition that the strict separation of church and state is the only defensible church-state arrangement under the Establishment Clause of the United States Constitution. Such a Mindset can make arguments for religious accommodationism difficult to be assessed openmindedly in contemporary constitutional discourse. The essay next surveys the potential of a counterfactual history of topics long thought settled to weaken prevailing views and treasured interpretations so to allow greater critical engagement with alternative assessments. The work in turn deploys a counterfactual reconstruction of Maryland's colonial Anglican establishment. This account imagines the founding vision for Maryland's establishment of Anglicanism developed by Rev. Thomas Bray as having been sustained. The cogency of this counterfactual can assist contemporary constitutional discourse by weakening the prejudicial potential of the American Separationist Mindset

Colonialism · Constitution · Counterfactual conditional · Counterfactual thinking · Epistemology · Mindset · Political science · Sociology · American Constitutional Law and Politics · Computer Science · Law · Philosophy · Religion and Society Interactions · Religious Freedom and Discrimination

Tools

Open DOIOpen Access