God and the founders : Madison, Washington, and Jefferson / Vincent Phillip Muñoz.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Muñoz, Vincent Phillip, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Church and state--United States--History--18th century.

Church and state.

Christianity and politics--United States--History--18th century.

Christianity and politics.

Founding Fathers of the United States--Views on religion.

Founding Fathers of the United States.

Constitutional history--United States.

Constitutional history.

United States--Religion--To 1800.

United States.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (x, 242 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Other Title:

God & the Founders

Place of Publication:

Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2009.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Did the Founding Fathers intend to build a 'wall of separation' between church and state? Are public Ten Commandments displays or the phrase 'under God' in the Pledge of Allegiance consistent with the Founders' understandings of religious freedom? In God and the Founders, Dr Vincent Phillip Muñoz answers these questions by providing comprehensive interpretations of James Madison, George Washington, and Thomas Jefferson. By analyzing Madison's, Washington's, and Jefferson's public documents, private writings, and political actions, Muñoz explains the Founders' competing church-state political philosophies. Muñoz explores how Madison, Washington, and Jefferson agreed and disagreed by showing how their different principles of religious freedom would decide the Supreme Court's most important First Amendment religion cases. God and the Founders answers the question, 'What would the Founders do?' for the most pressing church-state issues of our time, including prayer in public schools, government support of religion, and legal burdens on individuals' religious consciences.

Contents:

Introduction : The founders, religious freedom, and the First Amendment's religion clauses

James Madison's principle of state noncognizance of religion

George Washington on church and state : religion and the civic good

Thomas Jefferson's natural rights philosophy and anticlerical politics of religious liberty

Madison's, Washington's, and Jefferson's church-state doctrines

Madison, Washington, Jefferson and the establishment clause

Madison, Washington, Jefferson, and the free exercise clause

The founders v. the Supreme Court

Conclusion : The founders and church-state jurisprudence

Appendix A : "Memorial and remonstrance against religious assessments" by James Madison, 1785

Appendix B : Bill "establishing a provision for teachers of the Christian religion" by Patrick Henry, 1784

Appendix C : A bill for establishing religious freedom in Virginia by Thomas Jefferson, 1777.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 05 Oct 2015).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-107-19046-0

0-511-69912-3

9786612393419

1-282-39341-3

0-511-64736-0

0-511-62716-5

0-511-59355-4

0-511-65144-9

0-511-59262-0

0-511-59548-4

OCLC:

609843069