So Help Me God: The Founding Fathers and the First Great Battle Over Church and State

Today's dispute over the line between church and state (or the lack thereof) is neither the first nor the fiercest in our history. In a revelatory look at our nation's birth, Forrest Church re-creates our first great culture war--a tumultuous, nearly forgotten conflict that raged from George Washington's presidency to James Monroe's.

Religion was the most divisive issue in the nation's early presidential elections. Battles raged over numerous issues while the bible and the Declaration of Independence competed for American affections. The religous political wars reached a vicious peak during the War of 1812; the American victory drove New England's Christian right to withdraw from electoral politics, thereby shaping our modern sense of church-state separation. No longer entangled, both church and state flourished.

Forrest Church has written a rich, page-turning history, a new vision of our earliest presidents' beliefs that stands as a reminder and a warning for America today.

Author: Forrest Church
Publisher: Mariner Books
Published: 09/08/2008
Pages: 540
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.35lbs
Size: 8.00h x 5.20w x 1.50d
ISBN: 9780156034876

About the Author
Church, Forrest: - Forrest Church earned his doctorate in Church History at Harvard University and has written or edited over twenty-two books, including The Separation of Church and State.