ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book analysis the American culture in terms of a debate that first arose in the nineteenth century: the apparent conflict between religion and science; but, after treating several allied subjects, it ends with presentation of the issue of the expanding power of the new secular state. Secularism is the most significant moral movement in America today, penetrating every organ of civil life, increasingly relegating religion to a restricted place in society and reflective of a worldwide development. It analysis the actual state of science as it presently exists in American culture, including the place of what can be called "postmodern physics". The book examines the work of three American scientists prominent in their respective fields— Weinberg in particle physics, Wilson in evolutionary biology, and Milgram in social psychology.
