With God on All Sides: Leadership in a Devout and Diverse America
By Douglas A. Hicks. Oxford University Press (New York, 2009). 228 pp. $27.95.

In "With God on All Sides," Douglas A. Hicks raises the question of how the United States, a country originally founded by colonists seeking freedom of religion, has come to the point where many citizens are suspicious and distrustful of those professing a different religion from their own.

The author begins with Abraham Lincoln's reflections on the fact that both North and South claimed that God was "on their side" in the Civil War. Lincoln wrote that God can't be for and against something simultaneously and that "no one fully knows God's will." Hicks points out the similarity in our recent claims that God was on America's side in the Iraq War. Because four-fifths of our population is Christian, some of us call our country a "Christian nation" and have seen the terrorist attacks against us to be a religious war: all Muslims trying to destroy Christians.

A similar attitude was expressed concerning operations against a Muslim warlord in Somalia led by a member of our Defense Department who remarked, "I knew that my God was a real God and his was an idol."

Hicks points out that, in the American tradition, neither Lincoln nor Thomas Jefferson would have approved of self-righteous or dogmatic Christians who identify our nation's direction with the will of God. Neither would have supported what our government did in initially calling the Iraq invasion "Operation Infinite Justice." Rather, the author suggests that God speaks from many sides and that religions do not cause conflicts, but believers do.

Hicks presents a detailed and well-documented account of the major analytical theories about the way religion plays out in American society, beginning with Alexis de Tocqueville, who suggested that religions serve the country well by keeping citizens moral and orderly. The major danger Tocqueville saw was the possibility of a "tyranny of the majority" in a pluralistic society, which would not respect minority rights in a country whose First Amendment clearly states that there is to be no established religion.

The melting-pot theory initially seemed possible when the major religions in America were Protestant, Catholic and Jewish, according to Hicks. However, it was challenged by the reality of cultural pluralism as many people from Asia and the Middle East arrived and increased in number to form more of a "nation of nations."

Hicks also shows the prevalence of "civil religion," which regards the American story as a religious history of its own: the colonial pilgrims, the city on a hill, the promised land, the original sin of slaves, the sacrifice and redemption of the Civil War and American holidays ("holy days").

The author shows how leaders have dealt with many diverse religious groups, both successfully and unsuccessfully, and offers practical suggestions to improve national unity. He feels that legislation that affects people's religious practices is unjust, and quotes John Locke: "Religious views should never become the law of the land through political power."

People of different faiths do not improve their relations through hearing reasonable speeches, but through interaction and exposure to one another on a regular basis. Leaders can assist this process by building what Hicks refers to as "crossroads" and "connectors." The author ends with a letter to President Barack Obama, offering practical suggestions for presidential action, but the book promises to be helpful to leaders at any level.

Sister of St. Joseph of Carondelet Mona Castelazo has taught English for many years in Los Angeles.