English

Church and State: The Ten Commandments, Pledge, and U.S. Motto in Today's Universe

This book describes the tension between theocracy and church-state separation in court cases with an emphasis on the interpretive role of "ceremonial deism" used by the courts as an attempt to legally reduce conflict with the U. S. Constitution. The changes in knowledge over the millenia from Hebraic cosmology (circa 2200-2700 years ago for the written version of the Pentateuch) to that provided by the Hubble Space Telescope and changes in religious demographics are discussed with regard to changing roles of increasingly diverse dominant and subordinate religious groups in the United States. To facilitate its use as a source for additional research, extensive inline referencing to Internet sources is provided throughout the book. Specifically, the significance of the three versions of the Ten Commandments (including a translation of Goethe's listing of the Ritual Decalogue) for the covenant between Yahweh and Israel, historical developments leading to the insertion of "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance (and court controversies since then), and similar court concerns about adopting the phrase "In God We Trust" as the official U. S. Motto are analyzed in terms of cognitive disso

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