From the Jewish library: ‘Founding Faith’

Founding Faith: Providence, Politics, and the Birth of Religious Freedom in America by Steven Waldman, published 2009.

By Sheila Orysiek

Sheila Orysiek
Sheila Orysiek

SAN DIEGO — While framing the United States Constitution, the Founding Fathers learned a startling fact about themselves and the States they represented: they were all Christians yet they were unable to define what that meant.

Though culturally, regionally, economically and historically diverse, there was an underlying assumption that they shared more than they differed. However, when it came to codifying into words the interaction between government and religion they had to acknowledge unbridgeable differences. The Puritan based Christianity of New England, the Church of England of the Virginian Tidelands, a few Roman Catholics sprinkled about in Maryland, with the Quakers of Pennsylvania in between, represented very different streams of Christian thought and practice. The result was the broad reach of the First Amendment, further defined by the Fourteenth Amendment, with continuing distillation to this day.

As the Framers explored the problem, they came to understand that the difficulty of dealing with religious diversity also kept any one religious practice from taking precedence. Unable to define to everyone’s satisfaction exactly what it meant to be a Christian, they could neither restrict nor expand what couldn’t be defined and thus freedom for one was freedom for all.

If this difficulty arose among different streams of the same religion – what then to do about those who were not Christian? It became clear that the same tenet applied: freedom for one meant freedom for all. Religion would thrive best if left alone by government and this included other faiths – such as Judaism. When government and religion intersected both became corrupted.

The author researches four of the Founders/Framers: Franklin, Washington, Jefferson and Madison; how each viewed his own connection to religion, how that view evolved during his life and how he influenced those around him.

Waldman then attempts to connect this history to the present day “culture wars” between Liberals/left and Conservatives/right. In my opinion, the author is less successful in this subjective view because he assumes an ironclad “group-think” though this is the very thing the Framers of the Constitution wanted to avoid. The “inalienable rights” are endowed to individuals, not groups.

This book is well worth reading for the historical journey which produced the First Amendment and the men who framed it.

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Orysiek is a freelance writer specializing in coverage of book and the arts.  She may be contacted via sheila.orysiek@sdjewishworld.com