Ebook: So Help Me God: The Founding Fathers and the First Great Battle Over Church and State
Author: Forrest Church
- Tags: Christianity and politics, United States, Church and state, United States, Presidents, United States, Religion, United States, Church history, 18th century, United States, Church history, 19th century, Christianity and politics, Church and state, Presidents, Religion, United States, Église et État, États-Unis
- Year: 2007
- Publisher: Harcourt
- City: New York, Austin, Tex., Orlando, Fla., United States, United States
- Language: English
- epub
Today's dispute over the line between church and state (or the lack thereof) is neither the first nor the fiercest in our history. In this retelling of the birth of the American body politic, religious historian Forrest Church describes our first great culture war-a tumultuous yet nearly forgotten conflict that raged from George Washington's presidency to James Monroe's. On one side of the battle, the proponents of Read more...
Abstract: Today's dispute over the line between church and state (or the lack thereof) is neither the first nor the fiercest in our history. In this retelling of the birth of the American body politic, religious historian Forrest Church describes our first great culture war-a tumultuous yet nearly forgotten conflict that raged from George Washington's presidency to James Monroe's. On one side of the battle, the proponents of order--Federalists, Congregationalists, New Englanders--believed that the only legitimate ruler of men is God. On the other side, the defenders of liberty--republicans, Baptists, Virginians--cheered the Enlightenment and the French Revolution, and believed that only the separation of church and state would preserve man's freedom. Would we be a nation under God, or with liberty for all? In this vigorous history, Church offers a new vision of our earliest presidents' beliefs, reshaping assumptions about the debates that still reverberate across our land.--From publisher description