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:
“Deacon King was tried for violating the Sabbath, and so hot was the debate that it was referred to the church council, which ultimately decided, after long and grave debate, that the deacon had committed a ‘work of necessity and mercy.’”
—For the State of Massachusetts, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“A man who is good enough to shed his blood for his country is good enough to be given a square deal afterwards. More than that no man is entitled to, and less than that no man shall have.”
—Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919)