A collection of quotations on various things from the relationship between church and state to the status of women. It lays out the positions of the founders of America on more than seventy topics, including the afterlife, the death of loved ones, the raising of children, the reliability of biblical texts, and the nature of Islam and Judaism.
"What a superb and very welcome book this is. The quotations chosen by James Hutson are more than just wonderful reading. Transcending time, they are as illuminating and provocative, as wise, heartfelt, and uplifting as when they were written. The book belongs in every library. It should be required reading for everyone who teaches or preaches, for every serious student of religion and the good society, every public servant, indeed for every American who cares about the extraordinary minds and bedrock convictions of those we rightly honor as the founders."--David McCullough, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and biographer, author of John Adams and Truman
"In order to appreciate our values as a nation, it is important to understand how our Founders balanced their faith in divine Providence and their views on the role of government. The best way to do so is to read their own words, and James Hutson makes it possible in this valuable and thoughtful collection."--Walter Isaacson, author of Benjamin Franklin: An American Life
"A very well researched, attractively organized, historically reliable, often entertaining, and sometimes moving treatment of a set of related subjects that remain important for historical purposes as well as for contemporary public discussion. No other book of quotations from the founders has been so carefully selected and edited."--Mark A. Noll, author of America's God: From Jonathan Edwards to Abraham Lincoln
"This is a much needed and thoughtful scholarly edition that will be welcomed by historians and general readers alike."--Frank Lambert, author of The Founding Fathers and the Place of Religion in America (Princeton)
"The Founders on Religion is a significant contribution because of its fair-mindedness and thorough representation of the spectrum of views on religion among the founders. Hutson includes new figures--and new quotes from familiar ones."--Kenneth P. Minkema, Yale University
"In easy-to-reference form, he shows that the founders loved their country but were quite capable of thinking outside the pew."
---Kevin Eckstrom, Winston-Salem Journal
