Founding Faith: Providence, Politics, and the Birth of Religious Freedom in America

[Icky]

I have just begun reading this book and already I'm hooked.

It appears to be a very nicely done look at religion and government...

Only recently has this history become SEVERELY DISTORTED!!!

Here's a passage from the "Introduction"!!!! (I can't wait to dig into the meat of the thing!)

The book focuses on 5 people in particular: Benjamine Franklin, John Adams, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison.

It points out that "The Founding Fathers" were individual who grew up at different times and it's not fair to lump them all together as on Cabal.



Since each evolved throughout his lifetime - and differed from his compadres in significant ways - it is nonsensical to generalize too much about what "the Founding Fathers believed." However, they did share several common traits: Each felt religion was extremely important, at a minimum to encourage moral behavior and make the land safe for republican government; each took faith seriously enough to conscientiously seek out a personal path that worked for him; each rejected major aspects of his childhood religion; and none accepted the full bundle of creeds offered by his denomination. In other words, they were spiritual enough to care passionately about religious freedom, but not so dogmatic that they felt duty-bound to promote a particular faith. This combination led them to promote religious freedom rather than religion.

If that's not an appetizing teaser, I don't know what is!

The book:

Founding Faith: Providence, Politics, and the Birth of Religious Freedom in America
-Steven Waldman
Random House ISBN 978-1-4000-6437-3



[quote]

[CorpGovActivist]

Icky -

If you get the History Channel, and if you have TiVo, set it to get The Protestant Reformation, which gives a fantastic 2-hour overview of how the religious wars in Europe played a vital role in shaping America's Founding.

Grabbed it last night after seeing part of it, plan on zooming thru it tonight before bed.

- Dave

[Nanette]

Icky, I believe what it is getting at that the Founding Fathers for the most part were Deists. That is why we have the religious freedoms that we have today. Let's just hope that it stays that way.

You see, the right wing fundies all like to say that our founding fathers were Christians and meant for this to be Christian nation. Our Founding Fathers meant nothing of the sort. Each person has a right to believe and worship at they see fit under our Constitution. The right wing would like to see the Constitution rewritten, just like they are trying to rewrite a lot of our history to suit their collective beliefs.

I consider myself a Deist. I believe in Providence or a higher power if you will. Many believe that nature is the higher power, but I do not believe in religion as it is today. All religion is today is a mega money making industry. I believe that faith is an individuals business and nobody elses.

Many people do not understand what a Deist is which is sad. So sad that it could lead to the downfall of our Constitution and the freedoms that our Founding Father's meant for all of us to have.

We all need to be vigilant and fight back these untruths and distortions of how and why this country was founded and why the Constitution was written the way it was. If we don't, we are destined to live in a Christian theocracy, which in my opinion would be just as bad as the Islamic theocracies in the Middle East, maybe even worse.

Remember the Salem Witch trials? That is just a taste of living in a theocracy. I don't want live under such tyranny.

[Icky]

Actually, Nan, even this "Deist" argument appears to be off base... When I get home, I'll find a paragraph where the author addresses this and I'll post it...

Basically everything that's being said right now seems to be skewed... half-true... etc... I'll try and post a few things along the way... But I recommend you get your hands on the book :)

[rightiswrong]

I agree with Nanette's post, as I am involved with several groups trying to save the Wall of Separation between Church and State and have read many books and articles on the subject as well as attending lectures on the subject, what Nanette says about the Founders being Deists is true. I would check into the source and premise of that book and of the politics of its author.

[Icky]

The author does point out that many were indeed Diests...

I'll dig it up tonight...

[rightiswrong]

[Only registered and activated users can see links]

Steven Waldman is the Editor-in-Chief, President and Co-Founder of Beliefnet. He's also the author of the Founding Faith: Politics, Providence and the Birth of Religious Freedom in America, which has been published by Random House ([Only registered and activated users can see links]). Before co-founding Beliefnet in 1999, Waldman was a political journalist, serving as National Editor of U.S. News & World Report and National Correspondent for Newsweek. His writings have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, National Review, The Atlantic, Slate, and many others.
_____________________________________________

Not exactly an unbiased source.

[Icky]

You know, RIW, you may be right... but none of us know, yet.

I'm willing to read this and see what he has to say...

The following is an excerpt from the Introduction (Wherein he mentions the Deists, etc...)



But in the heat of this custody battle over the spiritual lives of the Founding Fathers, both sides distort history. Each has embraced a variant of the same non sequitur. In the eighteenth century, it did not follow that once's piety determined one's views about separation of church and state. Being pro-religion didn't mean one was anti-separation. And being pro-separation didn't mean one was anti-God. In fact, the culture wars have so warped our sense of history that we typically have a very limited understanding of how we came to have religious liberty. Freedom of conscience, as the Founders liked to call it, is one of the most important characteristics of American democracy, and yet the real story of how it happened is rarely told. That's what this book will attempt to do.

Along the way we will by necessity trample on some common myths:

America was settled as a bastion for relitious freem. Actually, it was settled primarily by people who wanted rule of one religious demonination over others.
The Founding Fathers were mostly rebelling against the religious tyranny in Europe. Actually, they were rebelling as much against the religious tyranny they saw among their colonial neighbors.
The Founding Fathers wanted religious freedom because they were Deists. Few of them were true Deists - people who believed that God had created the universe and then receded from action. Most of the Founding Fathers at one point believed in a God who intervened in the lives of Americans.
The Founding Fathers wanted religious freedom because they were devout Christians. Most of them disliked much about organized Christianity, the clerical class, and its theology, especially the common Calvinist doctrine that salvation came only from expressed faith in Jesus - or from being among God's select - rather than through good works.
Evangelical Christians invariably want more government support for religion and less separation of church and state. In fact, separation of church and state would not exist if not for the efforts of eighteenth-century evangelicals.
The american Revolution was fought solely over economic and philosophical issues. One of the most important factors was religion.
The United States was founded as a Christian nation. North America was settled as a Christian realm, and many states did promote Christianity even after the nation's founding, but the United States of America was not established as a "Christian Nation."
The First Amendment was designed to separate church and state throughout the land. Actually, the Founders only intended it to apply to the federal government, not the local governments that regulate schools, local courthouses, and town squares.But this book is not, for the most part, about myth busting or mocking the different sides in the culture wars. In fact, I hope you'll discover that both sides actually have brought some keen insights and can learn from each other. Thought I will occasionally tie the history back to contemporary conflicts, and I do return to those issues in the concluding chapter, this book aspires mostlyt to simply describe the dramatic birth of religious freedom without distortions introduced by either a heavy ideological agenda or romantic wishful thinking.

[PoconoPragmatist]

I agree with Nanette's post, as I am involved with several groups trying to save the Wall of Separation between Church and State and have read many books and articles on the subject as well as attending lectures on the subject, what Nanette says about the Founders being Deists is true. I would check into the source and premise of that book and of the politics of its author.

Thomas Jefferson was a Unitarian.

-signed,
Another Unitarian.