Author: Hall, Mark David
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Rick Shrader‘s Review:
I am currently reading about America’s “Christian” founding from differing Christian writers. Hall takes a fairly middle view that America’s founding was Christian in the general sense. There are writers on both sides, those who feel very few of the founders were truly born-again believers, and those who call almost everything Christian if Christian terminology is used. Hall seems to accept most of the founders’ Christian language and biblical references as coming from a truly converted Christian understanding.
Here are a few of Hall’s remarks and conclusions: “Did America have a Christian founding? This book reveals that the answer is a resounding yes. Moreover, it shows that this is good news for all Americans–even for those who adhere to non-Christian religions or to no faith at all” (p. xviii). “Practicallly, and positively, a central argument of this book is that America’s founders drew from their Christian convictions to create a constitutional order that benefits all Americans, not just Christians” (p. xxvii). “America’s founders were profoundly influenced by Christianity, but they did not design a constitutional order only for fellow believers” (p. 145). In a longer explanation Hall writes, “A central theme in this book is that America’s founders embraced a robust understanding of religious liberty. This important freedom, which many founders referred to as ‘sacred,’ is under increasing assault today. If we are to be faithful to the founders’ vision, we must insist that religious liberty be protected whenever possible. There are times when the state has a compelling interest in keeping someone from acting on his or her religious conviction (prohibiting human sacrifice is an obvious example), but these instances are few and far between. And Christians must insist that the religious liberty of non-Christian citizens be respected. Doing so is not only strategic, it is the right thing to do” (p. 153).
Mark David Hall is the Hervert Hoover Distinguished Professor of Politics at George Fox University. He is also associated faculty at the Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University and senior fellow at Baylor University’s Institute for Studies of Religion.”