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Moral Minority

Our Skeptical Founding Fathers

Brooke Allen

In her lively refutation of modern claims about America's religious origins, Brooke Allen looks back at the late eighteenth century and shows decisively that the United States was founded not on Christian principles at all but on Enlightenment ideas. Moral Minority presents a powerful case that the unique legal framework the Founding Fathers created was designed according to the humanist ideals of Enlightenment thinkers: God entered the picture only as a very minor player, and Jesus Christ was conspicuous by his absence. The guiding spirit of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, Ms. Allen explains, was not Jesus Christ but John Locke. In direct and accessible prose, she provides fascinating chapters on the religious lives of the six men she considers the key Founding Fathers: Franklin, Washington, John Adams, Jefferson, Madison, and Hamilton. Far from being the conventional pious Christians we too often imagine, these men were skeptical intellectuals, in some cases not even Christians at all. Moral Minority presents unforgettable images of our iconic founders: Jefferson taking a razor to the Bible and cutting out every miraculous and supernatural occurrence; Washington rewriting speeches others had crafted for him, so as to omit all references to Jesus Christ; Franklin and Adams confiding their doubts about Christ's divinity; Madison expressing deep disapproval over the appointment of chaplains to Congress and the armed forces, and of what we would now call "faith-based" initiatives. Enlivened by generous portions of the founders' own incomparable prose, Moral Minority makes an impassioned and scintillating contribution to the ongoing debate—more heated now than ever before—over the separation of church and state and the role (or lack thereof) of religion in government.

Ivan R. Dee

Pages: 256 • Trim: 6¼ x 9

978-1-56663-675-9 • Hardback • August 2006 • $24.95 • (£18.99) - Currently out of stock. Copies will arrive soon.

978-1-56663-751-0 • Paperback • September 2007 • $14.95 • (£11.99)

Subjects: Political Science / History & Theory, History / United States / General, History / General, Philosophy / General

Moral Minority

Our Skeptical Founding Fathers

Hardback

Paperback

Summary

In her lively refutation of modern claims about America's religious origins, Brooke Allen looks back at the late eighteenth century and shows decisively that the United States was founded not on Christian principles at all but on Enlightenment ideas. Moral Minority presents a powerful case that the unique legal framework the Founding Fathers created was designed according to the humanist ideals of Enlightenment thinkers: God entered the picture only as a very minor player, and Jesus Christ was conspicuous by his absence. The guiding spirit of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, Ms. Allen explains, was not Jesus Christ but John Locke. In direct and accessible prose, she provides fascinating chapters on the religious lives of the six men she considers the key Founding Fathers: Franklin, Washington, John Adams, Jefferson, Madison, and Hamilton. Far from being the conventional pious Christians we too often imagine, these men were skeptical intellectuals, in some cases not even Christians at all. Moral Minority presents unforgettable images of our iconic founders: Jefferson taking a razor to the Bible and cutting out every miraculous and supernatural occurrence; Washington rewriting speeches others had crafted for him, so as to omit all references to Jesus Christ; Franklin and Adams confiding their doubts about Christ's divinity; Madison expressing deep disapproval over the appointment of chaplains to Congress and the armed forces, and of what we would now call "faith-based" initiatives. Enlivened by generous portions of the founders' own incomparable prose, Moral Minority makes an impassioned and scintillating contribution to the ongoing debate—more heated now than ever before—over the separation of church and state and the role (or lack thereof) of religion in government.

Details

Ivan R. Dee

Pages: 256 • Trim: 6¼ x 9

978-1-56663-675-9 • Hardback • August 2006 • $24.95 • (£18.99) - Currently out of stock. Copies will arrive soon.

978-1-56663-751-0 • Paperback • September 2007 • $14.95 • (£11.99)

Subjects: Political Science / History & Theory, History / United States / General, History / General, Philosophy / General

Author

Brooke Allen's Twentieth-Century Attitudes was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. She has also written Artistic License. Her critical writing appears frequently in the Times Book Review, The Atlantic Monthly, The New Criterion, The Hudson Review, The Nation, and The New Leader. She lives with her husband and two children in Brooklyn, New York.

Reviews

Meticulously researched and eminently readable. . . . Enthusiastically recommended for all collections.
— D. L. Davey; Library Journal

Ms. Allen succeeds perfectly.
— Adam Kirsch; New York Sun

Enlightening, infectiously enthusiastic scrutiny.
— Ray Olson; Booklist

Careful and provocative reading. . . . Allen's book is welcome counterweight.
— Darryl Hart, Hillsdale College

Allen's clear and intelligent eye is a pleasure . . . a fine small book.
— Peter Matthiessen, novelist and non-fiction writer, twice winner of the National Book Award

Allen lucidly demolishes the fundamentalists' revisionist history of the Constitution. . . . An elegant and riveting defense.
— Heather MacDonald

Well documented, exuberantly argued and quite persuasive.
— GEORGE WILL, Washington Post; The New York Times

Allen provides honest answers to the questions about the religious beliefs and practices of Washington and the other key founders.
— Myron A. Marty; St. Louis Post-Dispatch

If our right-wing adversaries insist on claiming that Washington and Franklin actually wanted the United States to be a Christian theocracy, Allen's book certainly can help to refute that outrageous lie.
— Emile Schepers; People's Weekly World

Her argument marks a salient starting point for an informed debate on a compelling topic. Those who call the U.S. a 'Christian Nation' when referring not only to the religious beliefs of its citizens but to the structure and intention of its government ought to welcome the contrarian challenge she poses.
— Richmond Times-Dispatch

Allen delivers a rationalist polemic against those who would make of the American Founders observant, believing Christians in the modern sense. . . . Ms. Allen writes with facility.
— Aram Bakshian Jr.; The Wall Street Journal

This is an excellent book about the beliefs of the six founders and well worth a read. Highly recommended.
— Marty Dodge; Blogcritics

A mighty case for the religious questioning of America's Founding Fathers . . . thoughtful, diligently researched and often eyebrow-raising.
— Blue Ridge Business Journal

[Written] in a brisk, highly readable style.
— Village News

This is a thoughtful, well-written book.
— Alvena Bieri; Newspress

Examine[s] the . . . Founding Fathers to convincingly demonstrate that Christian belief did not guide their political thinking . . . an excellent concluding chapter.
— Milton Berman; Magill Book Reviews

A small, and wildly underappreciated book.
— Nicholas F. Benton; Falls Church News-Press

Ably demonstrates the uncontroversial thesis that many of the founding fathers were not very devout.
— Old Durham Road

Allen's book . . . brings the substantial literary talents of a public intellectual to the dialogue on church and state in America.
— Journal of Southern History

Informed by substantial research in their writings and provides numerous quotations.
— Allen Gibson; The Historian

Moral Minority

Our Skeptical Founding Fathers

Brooke Allen

Moral Minority

Our Skeptical Founding Fathers

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