American Gospel: God, The Founding Fathers, and the Making of a Nation is author Jon Meacham’s attempt to counter arguments of both the religious right and the secular left regarding the role of religion in the founding of the nation, as well as its place in the public sphere of American life. Meacham’s core thesis is that America has a public religion that leaders use to inspire and unite the people, but the phrasings and rituals of public religion are steeped in a tradition of inclusiveness and generality. While most of the country’s founders were Christian, they were not eager to make specific references to any religion in documents such as the Constitution or in the course of conducting the daily business of government. The founders and their successors resisted several attempts to proclaim Christianity as the nation’s official religion.
Meacham, using excerpts from speeches and letters from the likes of Lincoln, John Adams, and Woodrow Wilson, demonstrates the frequency with which presidents have used biblical quotes and references in their official capacities, belying the notion that America is a purely secular state. However, I had to hold my nose while reading the chapter on Reagan. Meacham makes him out to be a skillful political moderate who edited his own speeches, while I would argue that he possessed an actor’s gift for delivering a good line while remaining woefully out of touch on a host of issues affecting average Americans.
American Gospel is written in a breezy style and there are probably more substantive books on the character of America’s public religion. But it does provide a useful starting point for objectively analyzing the founders’ views on religion without the hyperbole of the left and the right.
