69 of 92 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Here are some facts to consider... from a Christian, August 20, 2004
This review is from: Faith of Our Founding Fathers (Paperback)
As a Christian who studies the Bible on a daily basis, I'm disgusted by how people will listen naively to whatever Tim Lahaye and others say because it sounds pleasing, without thinking critically. (The Bible has many warnings about that too.)
If you really want to learn about the "Faith of Our Founding Fathers" from a scholarly source by somebody who actually has researched facts, then I recommend an accurate and fair (and enjoyable) book instead called, "The Founding Fathers and the Place of Religion in America" by Frank Lambert instead. (ISBN 0691088292)
Yes, the U.S. colonies were established primarily as Christian colonies. However, there were so many disagreements in beliefs, that the states ended up persecuting people who preached different doctrines. People were being hung in Massachusetts because of their beliefs, and that was why Roger Williams left to found Rhode Island, a state that tolerated different religions.
In Virginia, Baptists preachers were thrown in prison because they disagreed with the established Anglican church. One of the people impacted by this was James Madison, who himself had attended a presbyterian seminary. His first action as a freshman lawmaker in Virginia was to fight for the rights of religious minorities. He became a decisive force for the separation of church and state.
Because of the persecution of religious minorities and the efforts by the established churches to silence dissent, the popular attitude was to hate the established churches, because they were seen as power-hungry and corrupt (like some today). That is why people like Madison and Jefferson fought for the creation of a secular government that "deregulated" churches and created a free-market of religious ideas.
Yes, there were other people (like Patrick Henry) who wanted to establish a Christian church, but guess who won in the end? Madison and Jefferson sold the founders on the idea that keeping the church and state in their own separate spheres was best for everyone, and the conventions agreed!
The framers were afraid that if they mentioned God in the Constitution, then that might lead to entanglement between the church and state. Instead of deriving their governmental authority from God, as had been done by other states before them, they wrote a Preamble that said, "We the people...do ordain and establish this Constitution," rather than saying "God ordains this Constitution" (which was proposed). Their preamble was completely different from the "City on a Hill" ideology of the past.
Madison was friends with Thomas Jefferson, a Deistic Unitarian who penned the words "separation of Church and State" in a letter to the Danbury Baptist Association. This letter was important because Jefferson was expressing what he believed was the "original intent" of the first amendment.
Has God cursed our nation as a result of this separation of church and state? Quite the contrary! Just look around and see how God has blessed us. Churches have grown, AND we probably have a higher percentage of Christian believers than before the Constitution was drafted.
God never needed civil power to grow his church. Look at what the apostles faced--the early church grew despite persecution. As soon as the church gained political acceptance and power, it becamed corrupted by greed, idolatry and syncretistic pagan practices.
What is the agenda behind the push by some zealous Christians to take control of the government, and why do they feel they need civil power? Is it because their theology is weak and devoid of spiritual power? (Those who rely on the law are legalistic.)
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
49 of 65 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Less than honest, December 9, 2004
This review is from: Faith of Our Founding Fathers (Paperback)
As a pastor I suggest that Tim Lahaye vision of the Founding Fathers is a less than honest interpretation and revisionism of the lives of these men.
He regularly removes quotes for their historical context and readily leaves false impressions of the spirituality of what was a broadly diverse group of men. Deists, Unitarians, athiests, orthodox and more were the roots of American constitutional government.
Some like Patrick Henry are discussed as beacons of Christian orthodoxy without acknowledging that many of the most orthodox worked against the ratifying of the constitution by the states.
Individual quotations never tell the whole story of the man. The language of God was part of the general public discourse and was used often by many founders for its effect. While at the same time they, also, spoke boldly of the destructive nature of religion, the absence of God from this world in any intimate mannet, the evil of the institutions of faith, etc.
Jefferson's work on his missal called "The Jefferson Bible" displayed a rationalistic distaste for all things supernatural in the Gospels. He and many recognized the destruction the faith wars of europe had caused and believed the philosophies of Hume held more hope than irrational faith.
All in all LaHaye's work borders more more on fiction than fact and serves neither the church nor the public discourse of these men and the events they forged.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
17 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
worthless read, October 3, 2007
This review is from: Faith of Our Founding Fathers (Paperback)
I wish that I had read the previous reviews of this book prior to spending my money. Instead I believed the cover that read, "Dr. Tim LaHaye moves past all the rhetoric, argumentation, and historical revisionism and simply examines the plain evidence". That is why I bought the book and why I was so terribly disappointed. This book is nothing but a thinly veiled attack on 'secular humanism'. And LaHaye couches that attack in useless, un-cited anecdote and terms like 'Secular Humanist Animals'. LaHaye laments that 'Creation Science' is not taught in school. (Dr. LaHaye, there is no such things as 'Creation Science', because there is no way to hold creationism up to the rigors of scientific inquiry).
If you are looking for a book that pours gasoline on the flames of your fear of the ACLU and the NEA, by all means, buy this book. If you are looking for a book that really does examine the facts of the role faith played in the founding of our nation, keep looking and don't waste your money on this rag.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
