A book worth your time. I bought this book and read it as part of my preparation to teach my class on Religion and the First Amendment at Auburn University for the OLLI program (adult lifelong learning). We had 37 students, mostly retired professionals, former professors, religiously diverse, and a few “nones.” It was a great class, robust discussion, deep love for this country and worry about the blurred lines of the present. This book, along with several others by Jon Meacham, Edwin Gaustadt, John Fea and older work by Martin Marty, Sydney Ahlstrom and others, along with original works by founders and later Americans. The glory of the First Amendment has nearly been lost in the fear-mongering and whiny handwringing of social media crusaders. It is a time for the courage and truth of Roger Williams, Jefferson, Washington, Adams, and Madison. Best get to know them again. This is a good place to start

Some other books I found helpful:

Balmer, Randall. America’s Best Idea: The Separation of Church and State. Steerforth Press, 2025. 

———-. Bad Faith: Race and the Rise of the Religious Right [Kindle iOS version]. Retrieved from Amazon.com

Fea, John. Was America Founded As a Christian Nation? A Historical Introduction. Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2011.

Gaustad, Edwin S. Church and State in America. 2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.

———-. A Religious History of America. New Revised Edition, HarperSanFrancisco, 1990.

Meacham, Jon, American Gospel: God, the Founding Fathers, and the Making of a Nation. New York: Random House, 2006.