The Ten Commandments Cases and the Future of the Religion Clauses of the First Amendment

Concern about future generations stretches as far back as the Ten Commandments, but the belief that present people can significantly change the future originated as recently as the Enlightenment, along with the belief that our generation may be judged by posterity. ‘Future generations’ considers the moral standing of future generations; the fundamental objection to that belief—‘the Non-Identity Problem’; and the discounting of future interests. If it is agreed that future people and their interests matter, it is still widely held that their interests count for less than current interests. Future preferences and needs are discussed with some of the harmful practices that are detrimental to human and non-human health.

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Political regimes and the future of the First Amendment

Special Issue Constitutional Politics in a Conservative Era - Studies in Law, Politics and Society ◽

10.1016/s1059-4337(08)00804-1 ◽

2009 ◽

pp. 107-139

Author(s):

Thomas F. Burke

Keyword(s):

First Amendment ◽

Political Regimes ◽

The Future

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Book Reviews : The First Amendment and the Future of American Democracy. By WALTER BERNS. (New York: Basic Books, Inc., 1976. Pp. xi, 266. $12.50.)

Political Research Quarterly ◽

10.1177/106591297703000313 ◽

1977 ◽

Vol 30 (3) ◽

pp. 431-433

Author(s):

N. D. McFeeley

Keyword(s):

New York ◽

First Amendment ◽

American Democracy ◽

The Future

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Shadows on the Hudson: Isaac Bashevis Singer on the Prospects for Faith and Virtue in Modern America

The Review of Politics ◽

10.1017/s0034670507000757 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 69 (3) ◽

pp. 431-446

Author(s):

Sanford Kessler

Keyword(s):

Well Being ◽

Moral Authority ◽

Orthodox Judaism ◽

Isaac Bashevis Singer ◽

Ten Commandments ◽

The Future ◽

New Religion ◽

Moral Capital

Isaac Bashevis Singer's posthumously published novel Shadows on the Hudson contains his deepest, most sustained reflections on the moral and religious character of modernity. Using America as his paradigm, Singer argues that modern religious skepticism has destroyed the moral authority of the Ten Commandments. This depletion of moral capital has led to the growth of a powerful “underworld” culture that fosters the idolatrous worship of material well-being, reason, and Eros. Singer believes that ultra-orthodox Judaism is the only religion now able to check this evil in principle. Yet he fears that this religion can do little more in our post-biblical world than to highlight modernity's moral flaws. Thus, he offers an uncommonly bleak prognosis for the future unless modern poets can create a new religion that better meets the needs of our time.

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