I enjoyed this book a great deal. I was unaware of the advance of fundamentalism on our rights and the very frame of our Constitution.

This book discusses the religious nature of six of the founding fathers of the United States of America: Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and Alexander Hamilton. All of it is done through quoting their private letters and papers, the laws they helped to enact, and ideas they tried to spread. Some of the Founding Fathers were quite devout, but a lot of them were Deists or Atheists. Washington didn't even profess a religion and a lot of his history was distorted by Mason Locke Weems, a charlatan of the highest order that made up the Cherry tree story and a great many other things.

The book is divided into eight chapters with an appendix and an index. Each chapter covers one Founding Father with chapter seven being about the follow-up of their deaths and chapter eight covering the history of the world that they lived in and that world's environment. For instance, a great issue was made on a lot of the pilgrims fleeing religious persecution, but most of the settlers were in it for the land and the money. The ones that did escape religious persecution foisted their own ideals on others and demonized dissenters and those of other sects. Rather silly if you ask me, considering the fact that they were all supposedly Christians.

In any case, I really enjoyed this book. I found it fascinating, and it introduced me to a couple of new Google searches. I was not aware that Maryland required belief in a God for public office up until 1961 of all times. I would read it again, but I have so many other books on my plate that it seems unlikely. ( )

Wonderful single source debunking of the myth of the US government being founded on Christian principles. Nothing could be further from the truth as Ms. Allen illustrates. Her case is laid out by citing the writings and biographies of the six most visible of the Founders: Franklin, Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison and Hamilton. Should be required reading for Beck, O'Reilly, the Tea Party Darlings and anyone else spouting that nonsense. ( )

I personally found nothing new or revealing in this short summary of the philosophical foundations of the United States or of the religious sentiments of the founding fathers. But given the efforts of a small but vocal movement to rewrite history to make America an exclusively “Christian” nation, it is a timely reminder of the vision people like Washington, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and James Madison had for this country. Ms. Allen points out quite accurately and succinctly that these great men desired to create a nation that embodied the ideas and ideals of Enlightenment thinkers like Locke and Hume rather than those embodied in the Bible. They had studied the Bible of course and had commented on it extensively but this was largely to point out its flaws. This isn’t to say that they were anti-Christian in any way, as the author takes care to point out, but that they understood that religion in general, and Christianity in particular had no valid role in government. The founders opposed the idea of a national religion of any kind and intentionally separated Church and State in the formation of the U.S. Constitution.
Ms. Allen does come across a bit heavy when she points out that none of these men would be considered “Christian” by some modern standards but as she is trying to present a counterpoint to absurd claims that any of them shared the same beliefs about a personal savior or the divinity of Jesus as current American evangelicals, I can excuse this one point.
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A well written, easy to read book detailing the religious lives and political positions of the American founders. The author attempts to demonstrate through the founders own words that the United States was not, in fact, founded as a Christian nation. ( )

(posted on my blog: davenichols.net)

Brooke Allen presents a quick history of six of the primary Founding Fathers of the USA and their views towards religion and government. Allen lets each featured statesman speak largely for himself, with excellect excerpts taken in context, conveying the undoubtable position that Franklin, Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, and Hamilton were absolutely determined to create a nation which maintained walls between church and state.

Each of the first six chapters features a different statesmen. Throughout, Allen largely excerpts topical writings from letters, speeches, and other documents which offer keen insight into the thoughts and opinions of each man. Allen points out that many modern Christians try to argue that these men were likewise Christian, founding the nation on primarily Christian beliefs and values. By reading the thoughts of these men, that argument could not be any more wrong.

Although none of these men were atheist or agnostic (in modern terms, though Franklin may have been despite a few of his public statements), most were Deists who specifically denied the very Christian beliefs of the divinity of Jesus, revelation, atonement, and the historical value of the Bible. Each man argued prodigiously against mingling church and state.

Latter parts of the book give the reader a nice history of Enlightenment thought which greatly influenced these men. The ideals of natural law and personal freedoms come not from Biblical interpretations and implementations, but instead from enlighted thinkers such as Locke, Paine, Voltaire, and Smith. Allen's history is brief but covers the subject very nicely. Jefferson himself shows that he understood the concepts of natural law to come early Saxons prior to their exposure to Christianity, contrary to the breathless claims made by modern evangelicals and apologists.

Moral Minority is a great book to offer any reader willing to consider the words of the Founders themselves rather than simply accept the modern-day evangelical propaganda regarding our 'Christian' heritage. While there is no doubt that Christianity played a large role in the development of our nation, as did many practicing, devout Christians, the most commonly cited statesment responsible for leading the Revolution and early US govenrment were, without a doubt, against any co-mingling of church and state. It could not be more clear, and it makes the secular-religious struggle over church and state issues today blatantly one of revisionist history by those on the religious side, a deceptive tactic that launched during the lifetimes of these statesmen.

One of the interesting side effects noted by Allen is that the drive for a truly secular government rather than a tolerant one (the tolerant government has an official state religion but offers 'toleration' to other religions) was the development of a more religious population. Had a specific Christian denomination been given sanction, argues Allen, it is very likely that the resulting population would have been less able to develop the wide variety of denominations we now find. By refusing to allow a single sanction, the founders in effect allowed a great diversity of religious varieties to thrive. Though not quite the effect these men were after, all would clearly favor their decision even to this day.

Reading this book should make one angry over the blatant lies and revisionist history taking place by Christians in this nation. Madison, Adams, and Jefferson are doing flips in their respective graves. Take this opportunity to join the Freedom From Religion Foundation, which is leading the fight to keep religion out of state affairs. I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting a quick history of the opinions of our most important founding statesment concerning religion and church/state matters. Four and one-half stars. ( )