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Providence, Politics, and the Birth of Religious Freedom in America
Random House
March 2008
On Sale: March 11, 2008
304 pages
ISBN: 1400064376
EAN: 9781400064373
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction Religion
The culture wars have distorted the dramatic story of how
Americans came to worship freely. Many activists on the
right maintain that the United States was founded as a
“Christian nation.” Many on the left contend that the
Founders were secular or Deist and that the First Amendment
was designed to boldly separate church and state throughout
the land. None of these claims are true, argues
Beliefnet.com editor in chief Steven Waldman. With
refreshing objectivity, Waldman narrates the real story of
how our nation’s Founders forged a new approach to religious
liberty, a revolutionary formula that promoted faith . . .
by leaving it alone. This fast-paced narrative begins with earlier settlers’
stunningly unsuccessful efforts to create a Christian
paradise, and concludes with the presidencies of Washington,
Adams, Jefferson, and Madison, during which the men who had
devised lofty principles regarding the proper relationship
between church and state struggled to practice what they’d
preached. We see how religion helped cause, and fuel, the
Revolutionary War, and how the surprising alliance between
Enlightenment philosophers such as Jefferson and Madison and
evangelical Christians resulted in separation of church and
state. As the drama unfolds, Founding Faith vividly describes the
religious development of five Founders. Benjamin Franklin
melded the morality-focused Puritan theology of his youth
and the reason-based Enlightenment philosophy of
his adulthood. John Adams’s pungent views on religion–hatred
of the Church of England and Roman Catholics–stoked his
revolutionary fervor and shaped his political strategy.
George Washington came to view religious tolerance as a
military necessity. Thomas Jefferson pursued a dramatic
quest to “rescue” Jesus, in part by editing the Bible.
Finally, it was James Madison–the tactical leader of the
battle for religious freedom–who crafted an integrated
vision of how to prevent tyranny while encouraging religious
vibrancy. The spiritual custody battle over the Founding Fathers and
the role of religion in America continues today. Waldman
provocatively argues that neither side in the culture war
has accurately depicted the true origins of the First
Amendment. He sets the record straight, revealing the real
history of religious freedom to be dramatic, unexpected,
paradoxical, and inspiring.
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