This enjoyable book illuminates the long-held traditions and rare occurances that have shaped Christmas at the White House over the course of its history. Albert Menendez poured through diaries, memoirs, letters, newspapers, and more to compile the stories chronicled here, which include a Christmas wedding and honeymoon for Woodrow Wilson, the first lighting of the National Christmas Tree by Calvin Coolidge, a surprise dinner for poor children hosted by Abraham Lincoln's son, and so much more.

"Parochiaid" - any form of direct or indirect aid to parochial and other nonpublic elementary and secondary schools - has given rise to the most enduring, bitter, and important controversy in the history of American education and church-state relations.
Edd Doerr and Albert J. Menendez, examining and critiquing the attitudes and activities of federal, state, and local government regarding parochiaid, offer a searing indictment of the resurgent drive to support sectarian schools wtih tax dollars. Concentrating on the last five decades, during which the parochiaid lobbies have gained in...

Although a majority of Americans have repeatedly shown in referendum elections and opinion polls that they oppose tax support for nonpublic schools, fundamentalist leaders and their political lobbies are putting increasing pressure on Congress and state legislatures to compel taxpayers to support sectarian private schools through "vouchers" or "tuition tax credits," under the deceptive banner of "school choice."
Albert J. Menendez has carefully examined the most widely used history, English, and science textbooks in fundamentalist private schools. He documents the fact that these schools...

This comprehensive volume brings together all of the religious liberty and church/state provisions of the fifty state constitutions. The only work of its kind, "Religious Liberty and State Constitutions" will serve as a useful reference work for people in the fields of education, law, religion, and politics.

In this age of "political correctness," Christmas has become our most controversial holiday. Each year brings new court battles over nativity scenes on public property and heated school board meetings in the public schools.
Author Albert J. Menendez traces this dispute as far back as the fourth century, when Catholic orthodoxy turned Christmas into a major propaganda tool as well as a religious observance. Over the centuries there has been a surprising amount of disagreement among the various Christian sects about the nature of the Christian observance and whether Christmas should be...

The United States has enjoyed a long and venerable tradition of separation of church and state. But how is this relationship handled in Canada with which we have considerable political, economic, and social ties? Church and State in Canada describes the main contours of how religion and government interact in Canada. While written from the perspective of an American separationist, it reflects the unique traditions that have developed a somewhat different style of church-state relationships in our neighbor to the north. Written to inform U.S. readers, it includes much data from a variety of...

Should public funds be used to support non-public education? Controversy over that question has raged since the early 19th century. In the 1990s, this debate centers on elementary and secondary school tuition vouchers, sometimes called 'scholarships', which feature numerous plans with varying levels of aid, but they all involve public funds being spent for non-public education. Voucher advocates claim that it's only fair to include non-public schooling in public funding for elementary and secondary education, that vouchers will promote diversity, and that school 'choice' will improve the...

This outstanding collection of memorable quotations on religious freedom -- the most comprehensive ever assembled -- covers many centuries of thought and a wide array of sources. On every page the reader will discover a wealth of thoughtful, wise, and sometimes impassioned statements by all manner of men and women on a subject that has moved the consciences of generations from the distant past to the present. Included are early church fathers, Enlightenment philosophers, popes, anticlerical European statesmen, journalists, famous writers, judges, twenty-six presidents of the United States,...

Joy to the World tells the stories behind some of the most wonderful and best-loved songs of the season that express the spiritual sentiments of Christmas. While many other Christmas songs celebrate home and family, romance, and winter weather, the songs whose stories are told here express the underlying reality of the Christmas season between Advent and Epiphany - the birth of Jesus of Nazareth. The songs in Joy to the World are among the most enduring and permanent of the season's musical traditions. They have stood the test of time and express the many moods and emotions that evoke the...

"This work concentrates on the longstanding and significant factors of regionalism and sectionalism in the voting for the US chief executive. Even after the Civil War restored the nation's wholeness, the first postwar election showed the persistence of regional voting patterns. These patterns became even more pronounced in the succeeding elections of the 19th century and beyond"--Provided by publisher.