Founders of Faith

Founders of Faith
Title Founders of Faith PDF eBook
Author Harold Rosen
Publisher Baha'i Publishing
Pages 0
Release 2010
Genre Biography & Autobiography
ISBN 9781931847780

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A new exploration of the Founders of world religions that illustrates that they have been the impetus for the generation of great civilizations throughout history, and that humanity is now poised to establish a global civilization with unimaginable promise. Explores the lives of the Founders of the worlds major religionsincluding Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, and the Bah Faithand reveals that they are linked by sets of striking patterns. These patterns suggest that our worlds religions share universal teachings and have a common divine source.

Founding Faith

Founding Faith
Title Founding Faith PDF eBook
Author Steven Waldman
Publisher Random House Trade Paperbacks
Pages 306
Release 2009-03-10
Genre Religion
ISBN 0812974743

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The culture wars have distorted the dramatic story of how Americans came to worship freely. Many activists on the right maintain that the United States was founded as a “Christian nation.” Many on the left contend that the First Amendment was designed to boldly separate church and state. Neither of these claims is true, argues Beliefnet.com editor in chief Steven Waldman. With refreshing objectivity, Waldman narrates the real story of how our nation’s Founders forged a new approach to religious liberty. Founding Faith vividly describes the religious development of five Founders. Benjamin Franklin melded the Puritan theology of his youth and the Enlightenment philosophy of his adulthood. John Adams’s pungent views on religion stoked his revolutionary fervor and shaped his political strategy. George Washington came to view religious tolerance as a military necessity. Thomas Jefferson pursued a dramatic quest to “rescue” Jesus, in part by editing the Bible. Finally, it was James Madison who crafted an integrated vision of how to prevent tyranny while encouraging religious vibrancy. The spiritual custody battle over the Founding Fathers and the role of religion in America continues today. Waldman at last sets the record straight, revealing the real history of religious freedom to be dramatic, unexpected, paradoxical, and inspiring.

The Religious Beliefs of America's Founders

The Religious Beliefs of America's Founders
Title The Religious Beliefs of America's Founders PDF eBook
Author Gregg L. Frazer
Publisher University Press of Kansas
Pages 312
Release 2014-08-15
Genre History
ISBN 0700620214

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Were America's Founders Christians or deists? Conservatives and secularists have taken each position respectively, mustering evidence to insist just how tall the wall separating church and state should be. Now Gregg Frazer puts their arguments to rest in the first comprehensive analysis of the Founders' beliefs as they themselves expressed them-showing that today's political right and left are both wrong. Going beyond church attendance or public pronouncements made for political ends, Frazer scrutinizes the Founders' candid declarations regarding religion found in their private writings. Distilling decades of research, he contends that these men were neither Christian nor deist but rather adherents of a system he labels "theistic rationalism," a hybrid belief system that combined elements of natural religion, Protestantism, and reason-with reason the decisive element. Frazer explains how this theological middle ground developed, what its core beliefs were, and how they were reflected in the thought of eight Founders: John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, James Wilson, Gouverneur Morris, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and George Washington. He argues convincingly that Congregationalist Adams is the clearest example of theistic rationalism; that presumed deists Jefferson and Franklin are less secular than supposed; and that even the famously taciturn Washington adheres to this theology. He also shows that the Founders held genuinely religious beliefs that aligned with morality, republican government, natural rights, science, and progress. Frazer's careful explication helps readers better understand the case for revolutionary recruitment, the religious references in the Declaration of Independence, and the religious elements-and lack thereof-in the Constitution. He also reveals how influential clergymen, backing their theology of theistic rationalism with reinterpreted Scripture, preached and published liberal democratic theory to justify rebellion. Deftly blending history, religion, and political thought, Frazer succeeds in showing that the American experiment was neither a wholly secular venture nor an attempt to create a Christian nation founded on biblical principles. By showcasing the actual approach taken by these key Founders, he suggests a viable solution to the twenty-first-century standoff over the relationship between church and state-and challenges partisans on both sides to articulate their visions for America on their own merits without holding the Founders hostage to positions they never held.

Faith and the Founders of the American Republic

Faith and the Founders of the American Republic
Title Faith and the Founders of the American Republic PDF eBook
Author Daniel L. Dreisbach
Publisher Oxford University Press, USA
Pages 379
Release 2014-05
Genre History
ISBN 019984335X

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Thirteen essays written by leading scholars explore the impact of a rich variety of religious traditions on the political thought of America's founders.

The Founding Fathers and the Place of Religion in America

The Founding Fathers and the Place of Religion in America
Title The Founding Fathers and the Place of Religion in America PDF eBook
Author Frank Lambert
Publisher Princeton University Press
Pages 342
Release 2010-07-28
Genre History
ISBN 1400825539

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How did the United States, founded as colonies with explicitly religious aspirations, come to be the first modern state whose commitment to the separation of church and state was reflected in its constitution? Frank Lambert explains why this happened, offering in the process a synthesis of American history from the first British arrivals through Thomas Jefferson's controversial presidency. Lambert recognizes that two sets of spiritual fathers defined the place of religion in early America: what Lambert calls the Planting Fathers, who brought Old World ideas and dreams of building a "City upon a Hill," and the Founding Fathers, who determined the constitutional arrangement of religion in the new republic. While the former proselytized the "one true faith," the latter emphasized religious freedom over religious purity. Lambert locates this shift in the mid-eighteenth century. In the wake of evangelical revival, immigration by new dissenters, and population expansion, there emerged a marketplace of religion characterized by sectarian competition, pluralism, and widened choice. During the American Revolution, dissenters found sympathetic lawmakers who favored separating church and state, and the free marketplace of religion gained legal status as the Founders began the daunting task of uniting thirteen disparate colonies. To avoid discord in an increasingly pluralistic and contentious society, the Founders left the religious arena free of government intervention save for the guarantee of free exercise for all. Religious people and groups were also free to seek political influence, ensuring that religion's place in America would always be a contested one, but never a state-regulated one. An engaging and highly readable account of early American history, this book shows how religious freedom came to be recognized not merely as toleration of dissent but as a natural right to be enjoyed by all Americans.

The Faiths of Our Fathers

The Faiths of Our Fathers
Title The Faiths of Our Fathers PDF eBook
Author Alf J. Mapp
Publisher Rowman & Littlefield
Pages 196
Release 2003
Genre Biography & Autobiography
ISBN 9780742531154

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In this book, the author cuts through historical uncertainty to accurately portray the religious beliefs of 11 of America's founding fathers. (Motivation)

Faith of the Founders

Faith of the Founders
Title Faith of the Founders PDF eBook
Author Edwin Scott Gaustad
Publisher
Pages 214
Release 2004
Genre Biography & Autobiography
ISBN

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Explores the religious beliefs of America's founding fathers and their influence on American history and politics. Specifically addresses the philosophies of Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, and John Adams.