Reviews

Moral Minority: Our Skeptical Founding Fathers by Brooke Allen

richard_lawrence's review

4.0

Well written and informative, this is an excellent resource examining the debates and ideas that led to the conclusion of the Founding Fathers to insist on the separation of church and state. Well indexed and with a section at the end of sources, the reader can follow up on any of the subjects discussed.

jimbaldwin123's review against another edition

4.0

Very readable account of how religious freedom barely made it into the Constitution, and how American culture has always been hostile to the separation of Church and State.

stevereally's review against another edition

4.0

Really good coverage of its rather important subject.

kathleenitpdx's review

4.0

Allen's premise is that some of the founding fathers (particularly Franklin, Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Hamilton) were not necessarily Christian. And that the Constitution was not based on Christian principles but on Enlightenment philosophy. And that they definitely intended there to be a "wall of separation" between church and state. Allen tells us of these founding fathers' (as well as some of their religious colleagues) dislike of the religious wars and persecution in England and Europe. Her discussion of the various sects and the variations of state/religious mixtures in the colonies was very interesting.
It is interesting to see Jefferson include Judaism and Islam among religions that can be accommodated but no consideration of the Native American indigenous beliefs or of the vestiges of African religions that had survived the Middle Passage.
I think the understanding that many different sects were easier to handle than two or three dominant ones is something for us to pay attention to in the Middle East.