"In Agents of God, sociologist Jeffrey Guhin describes his year and a half spent in two Sunni Muslim and two Evangelical Christian high schools in the New York City area. At first, these four schools could not seem more different, yet they are linked by much: these are all schools with conservative thoughts on gender and sexuality, with a hostility to the theory of evolution, and with a deep suspicion of secularism. And they are all also hopeful that America will be a place in which their children can excel, even if they also fear the nation's many temptations might lead their children astray. Guhin shows how these school communities use boundaries of politics, gender, and sexuality to distinguish themselves from the outside world, both in school online. Within these boundaries, these communities have developed "external authorities" like Science, Scripture, and Prayer, each of which are felt and experienced as real powers with the ability to make commands and coerce action. Think how someone can describe Science as showing something, or the Bible itself as making a command. By offloading coercion to these external authorities, leaders in these schools are able to maintain a commitment to religious freedom while simultaneously reproducing their moral commitments in their students. Drawing on extensive classroom observation, community participation, and hundreds of interviews with students, teachers, and staff, this book makes an original contribution to religious studies, sociology, and education"-- Provided by publisher.

1. Authority and Essence -- 2. Politics and Public Schools -- 3. Differently Differentiating Gender -- 4. Sex and the Internet -- 5. Scripture as External Authority -- 6. Prayer as External Authority -- 7. Science as External Authority -- 8. It's Dangerous Out There -- Methodological Appendix -- Endnotes -- Bibliography .