A review by egfrith
American Gospel: God, the Founding Fathers, and the Making of a Nation by Jon Meacham

Did not finish book.

1.0

Did not finish. I remember when this book came out, being really excited about introducing the concept of public religion and how that would change the discourse about separation of church and state. Unfortunately, instead of the theoretically driven analysis of American public life and how it can be read as a public religion, Meacham gives a defense of American exceptionalism based on the existence of a public religion. Choice quote: "Guided by this religiously inspired idea of God-given rights, America has created the most inclusive, freest nation on earth. It was neither easy nor quick: the destruction of Native American cultures, the ravages of slavery, the horrors of the Civil War, and the bitterness of Jim Crow attest to that." (Incidentally, this is one of the only places Meacham uses "Native Americans". Elsewhere it's always "the Indians"). I neither buy that what America has done is good, nor that its exceptional, and the few chapters of this book I could stomach did little to change that.