In 2016, three out of four Republicans and supporters of Donald Trump said that “discrimination against Christians was as serious as discrimination against any other group.” A year later, another poll taken among white evangelicals revealed that they believed that they suffered more discrimination than American Muslims (193).
In that context, John Corrigan examines the long history of religious intolerance in America and how that history has shaped not only aspects of American identity but also elements of American foreign policy. One familiar with American religious history might expect in a book with this title a litany of events where certain groups suffered persecution for their religious beliefs, but Corrigan does much more than that. He provides a complex analysis that draws upon myriad sources in an effort to unpack the social and psychological elements of religious intolerance. He is fascinated by the interplay between willfully forgetting previous episodes of...