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A review by kathleenitpdx
Moral Minority: Our Skeptical Founding Fathers by Brooke Allen
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.
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.