The Naked Public Square is a 1984 book written by then-Lutheran pastor Richard John Neuhaus about the relationship between religion, culture, and politics in the context of 1980s American secularism.
The book raises the complaint about the way strict separationists read the First Amendment is that it leaves the public square “naked”, by which it is meant that the public square is now “bare” of religious speech. This, in turn, is thought to foster and encourage public hostility towards religion, something which is actually forbidden by the First Amendment.
The book was very popular among cultural and political Christians, especially those who defend a Christian intellectual culture, as well as those defending pro-life values. Its social impact was somewhat comparable to William F. Buckley, Jr.'s God and Man at Yale, which denounced similar socio-political phenomena at major American universities.
Famous quotes containing the words public and/or square:
“We might make a public moan in the newspapers about the decay of conscience, but in private conversation, no matter what crimes a man may have committed or how cynically he may have debased his talent or his friends, variations on the answer “Yes, but I did it for the money” satisfy all but the most tiresome objections.”
—Lewis H. Lapham (b. 1935)
“Mark you the floore? that square & speckled stone,
Which looks so firm and strong,
Is Patience:”
—George Herbert (1593–1633)