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Full Description
This fascinating study examines America's complex and confusing history of arguing with itself over religion and secularism, God and politics, church and state.
Hundreds of books are devoted to the ever-timely subject of the separation of church and state in America, but none does exactly what Christian Nation?: The United States in Popular Perception and Historical Reality does. Unlike other studies, this intriguing examination asks the right questions, defines the terms of the debate, explores the widely diverging points of view with equal respect for all sides, and provides insightful commentary and factual conclusions that cut through the clutter.
The book begins with several questions: Is the United States a "Christian Nation?" Has it ever been? Was it ever meant to be? What did the Founding Fathers say? How has this issue been interpreted by various individuals and factions over the centuries? The author then surveys the vast literature on this topic, including the U.S. Constitution and Declaration of Independence and the competing and/or complimentary views of various Founding Fathers to arrive at the answers—and, at long last, the truth.
Contents
Preface
Introduction: The Church-State Issue as Historical Entertainment
Perceptions
Historiography
1. The American "Way": Fabricating a New Creed for a Nascent Nation
The National Paradox
The Founders and What They Founded
Nationalism, the Civic Religion, and Peer Pressure
2. The American "Israel": Considering the Annuit Coeptis Theory
A Chosen People
Religiosity and the Numbers Game
3. The American "Pie": Considering the History of E Pluribus Unum
Ingredients
Recipe
Move to America, Shake Well
Serve Hot
4. The American "Magna Carta": Congress Shall Make No Law ... So Neither Should the Supreme Court
Division of Labor
Developments in the Revolution and Early Republic
The Philosophy of Separationism
Exploring the First Amendment
5. The American "Orthodoxy": Nonconformity among the Founders
Freethinkers and Freethinking
Deism
Freemasonry
6. The American "Irrationalism": The Founders and the Reasonableness of Religion
The Declaration of Irrationalism
The Irrational Constitution
A Utilitarian Faith?
7. The American "Exemplars": Founders Who Led by Example
The Bit Players
Benjamin Franklin
George Washington
John Adams
Thomas Jefferson
James Madison
Alexander Hamilton
8. The American "Duality": The Art and Science of Equipoise
Faith and Reason
God and Mammon
North and South
Conservatism and Liberalism
Conclusion: A Novus Ordo Seclorum?
Notes
Bibliography
Index
