Politics and Religion in America--Post 9/11

Dr. Blumberg takes a look at the state of our nation today, and describes what he sees as a variety of problems and areas in which he feels the nation is heading in the wrong direction. In particular, he feels that our politics are being dominated by an atmosphere of hate, and that hot button social issues, driven by religious extremists, are being used to divide and inflame our electorate. Terrorism, abortion and gay rights are at the head of these hot button issues, but there are others. Aside from violating our nation's long standing tradition of separating church and state, the author feels that using such hot button issues to provokevoters leads to potentially long lasting,destructive feelings, which turn us against each other. Such a house divided becomes vulnerable to the worst possible manipulation by clever political operatives. Dr. Blumberg sees fear and anxiety,largely aresult of the attacks of 9/11, as being responsible for many of these trends, and offers some insight into how this occurs, and how it can be changed.