God and the Founders: Madison, Washington, and Jefferson

Did the Founding Fathers intend to build a ‘wall of separation’ between church and state? Are public Ten Commandments displays or the phrase ‘under God’ in the Pledge of Allegiance consistent with the Founders’ understandings of religious freedom? In God and the Founders, Dr Vincent Phillip Munoz answers these questions by providing comprehensive interpretations of James Madison, George Washington, and Thomas Jefferson. By analyzing Madison’s, Washington’s, and Jefferson’s public documents, private writings, and political actions, Munoz explains the Founders’ competing church-state political philosophies. Munoz explores how Madison, Washington, and Jefferson agreed and disagreed by showing how their different principles of religious freedom would decide the Supreme Court’s most important First Amendment religion cases. God and the Founders answers the question, ‘What would the Founders do?’ for the most pressing church-state issues of our time, including prayer in public schools, government support of religion, and legal burdens on individuals’ religious consciences.