| Religion in American Politics: A Short History The delegates to the 1787 Constitutional Convention blocked the establishment of Christianity as a national religion. But they could not keep religion out of American politics. From the election of 1800, when Federalist clergymen charged that deist Thomas Jefferson was unfit to lead a "Christian nation," to today, when some Democrats want to embrace the so-called Religious Left in order to compete with the Republicans and the Religious Right, religion has always been part of American politics. In Religion in American Politics , Frank Lambert tells the fascinating story of the uneasy relations between religion and politics from the founding to the twenty-first century. Frank Lambert is professor of history at Purdue University. His books include The Barbary Wars , a New York Times Editors' Choice; The Founding Fathers and the Place of Religion in America ; and Inventing the "Great Awakening." |