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Affiliated with Lebanon Valley College of Pennsylvania Volume
12 FALL/WINTER 2005
CONTENTS
About the Contributors Preface: Firearms and American Culture ARTICLES ARTICLES The Scottish and English Religious Roots of the American Right to Arms: Buchanan, Rutherford, Locke, Sidney, and the Duty to Overthrow Tyranny The Hopelessness of Trying to Disarm the Kinds of People Who Murder Guns and American Popular Culture Reaching for the Gun in American Domestic and Foreign Policy SELECTED BOOK and FILM REVIEWS BOOKS Steven Carter, The Nothing That Is and The Nothing That Is Not: On Death, Dying, and Suffering David K. Clark, Empirical Realism: Meaning and the Generative Foundation of Morality John M. Cooper, Knowledge, Nature, and the Good: Essays on Ancient Philosophy Phil Cousineau, ed., The Way Things Are: Conversations with Huston Smith on the Spiritual Life Amy J. Devitt, Writing Genres Robert Ehrlich, Eight Preposterous Propositions: From the Genetics of Homosexuality to the Benefits of Global Warming Maurice A. Finocchiaro, Retrying Galileo, 1633-1992 John Hayman, ed., Sir Richard Burton’s Travels in Arabia and Africa: Four Lectures from a Huntington Library Manuscript Margaret C. Jacob and Larry Stewart, Practical Matter: Newton’s Science in the Service of Industry and Empire 1687-1851 James F. Keenan, The Works of Mercy: The Heart of Catholicism Gary E. Marchant and Kenneth L. Mossman, Arbitrary & Capricious: The Precautionary Principle in the European Union Courts Kathy McReynolds, Enhancing Our Way to Happiness: Aristotle versus Bacon on the Nature of True Happiness John W. O’Malley, Four Cultures of the West Samuel M. Powell. Participating in God: Creation and Trinity Tom Regan, The Case for Animal Rights Jeffrey W. Robbins, In Search of a Non-Dogmatic Theology Rudy Rucker, Infinity and the Mind: The Science and Philosophy of the Infinite David N. Stamos, The Species Problem: Biological Species, Ontology, and the Metaphysics of Biology Harvey Whitehouse, Modes of Religiosity: A Cognitive Theory of Religious Transmission Yirmiyahu Yovel, trans., Hegel's Preface to the Phenomenology of Spirit (Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel) FILMS Calvin Skaggs, David Van Taylor, and Ali Pomeroy, With God on Our Side: George W. Bush and the Rise of the Religious Right (Part One: The Early Crusades, Part Two: The Real Deal) BOOKS OF NOTE Abstracts of Current Issue The Scottish and English Religious Roots of the American Right to Arms: Many twenty-first century Americans believe that they have a God-given right to possess arms as a last resort against tyranny. One of the most important sources of that belief is the struggle for freedom of conscience in the United Kingdom during the reigns of Elizabeth I and the Stuarts. A moral right and duty to use force against tyranny was explicated by the Scottish Presbyterians George Buchanan and Samuel Rutherford. The free-thinking English Christians John Locke and Algernon Sidney broadened and deepened the ideas of Buchanan and Rutherford. The result was a sophisticated defense of religious freedom, which was to be protected by an armed people ready to resist encroachments on their natural, sacred liberties. The principle that right to arms is the ultimate guarantor of the right to free exercise of religion is one reason why the First and Second Amendments are placed next to each other in the American Bill of Rights.
The Hopelessness of Trying to Disarm the Kinds of People Who Murder Whether or not universal civilian disarmament is desirable, it is impossible. Violent crime is confined to a relatively small number of lawless aberrants who cannot be disarmed (though gun possession should continue to be illegal for them). Neither can ordinarily law-abiding, responsible adults who believe guns necessary to defend themselves and their families be disarmed. The social and enforcement costs of trying to disarm the law-abiding adult population would be enormous and divert enormous resources from law enforcement against criminals. Guns and American Popular Culture Biko Agozino Reaching for the Gun in American Domestic and Foreign Policy ________ The special role that firearms have played in the United States from colonial times to the present is highlighted. Firearms became part of a culture that viewed the right to bear arms as fundamental to a free people. In the twentieth century, this belief conflicted with attempts by those troubled with the illegal use of firearms to place limitations on their acquisition and use. A declining percentage of American homes possessing firearms notwithstanding, gun rights advocates have maintained a strong voice in U.S. politics due in part to the intensity of their beliefs as well as to the willingness of a large segment of the population to cast their votes in favor of candidates supported by gun rights groups. The hypothesis is explored that the depth of attitudes toward firearms in the overall culture has influenced the U.S. perspective on foreign policy and international relations, where the emphasis on maintaining military superiority often has dominated policy making. Such examples as the development of nuclear deterrence policy, the Vietnam conflict, and the U.S. invasion of Iraq reflect this general attitude toward weapons and their role in resolving conflict. ________ The cover design for the FALL/WINTER 2005 issue of BRIDGES was created by Mr. Ty Bachus. ________ copyright©
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