Non-Fiction Review

Toxic Faith - Liberal Cure
by Daniel C. Bruch & Thomas W. Strieter
ISBN-10: 1425722288
Review by Heather Froeschl

Freedom of religion means EVERY religion. America was not founded to be a Christian nation. Got your attention? I hope so. "Toxic Faith: Liberal Cure" is an outstanding, must-read book for every American. With calm, intelligent, and composed words, authors Daniel C. Bruch, D.Min., Ph.D., Sc.D. and Thomas W. Strieter, M.Div., STM, Ph.D. make a reasoned response to the alarming assertions of the Religious Right. I applaud them every step of the way.

With scholarly attention to detail and fact, the authors touch on many of the hot topics of American life today...patriotism, abortion, homosexuality, poverty, war, and the environment. Issues of name calling to gain power, infiltrating political parties, using money and political offices to further religious agendas, making moral decisions, examining what it means to be patriotic and many more, are discussed in great detail and with passionate persuasion to see the truth of what is happening all around us.

This is a book written to answer those who claim that liberalism is immoral and somehow destroying the values of this country (though I personally feel that the author's liberalism is more of a democratic stance - and that part of the problem America currently has is people feeling compelled to lump everything that is Democratic under the title of Liberal, like it is a dirty word.) and to carefully and rationally deal with many of today's current issues in a specifically Judeo-Christian liberal context. That isn't to say one has to be Liberal or Christian to agree with the things the authors say. I absolutely concur with their points and reasoning. The point of the book is to show how very much of our government, our society, our world, is under the threat of being run by Fundamentalist Christians. This is not what our founding fathers had in mind at all. Anyone who has an inkling of patriotism needs to read this book and take action.

The authors bring across their points with understanding, obvious intelligence and experience, and clearly, much research. I would love to sit for hours with either or both of them and discuss every issue in the book in great detail. It is my hope, and surely theirs, that "Toxic Faith: Liberal Cure" will become a much talked about work. If you've ever felt that something wasn't quite right in our country, from the reasons for the Iraq War, to the attacks on the Separation of Church and State, or if you're of the mindset that this country WAS based on Christian beliefs, you need to read this book.