God of Liberty

Thomas S. Kidd is Associate Professor of History at Baylor University. The author of several books on topics in American religious history, he lives in Woodway, Texas.

Washington Times "Thought-provoking, meticulously researched ... a salutary reminder of the role religious belief played in the founding of our country ... all the more valuable because that story clearly is in danger of being expunged from the historical record." The Weekly Standard "[An] eloquently argued study... [Kidd] demonstrates effectively the variety of faiths among Americans of the revolutionary era." Christianity Today "Balanced without being bland, lucid in the telling, Thomas Kidd's chronicle corrects the excesses both of those who overstate the degree to which America was founded as a 'Christian nation' and of those who seek to minimize the formative role of religion in the new nation's character." The Oklahoman "Full of information about the religion situation of the colonial, revolutionary and early periods of America... Highly recommended." Christian Century "One of the many virtues of this book is that Kidd is a careful and judicious historian... He points out--correctly--the errors of both present-day secularists on the left, who insist that the founders barred religious voices from political discourse, and the church-state separation deniers on the right. The lesson of American history is that although church and state are institutionally separate, morality and freedom are seldom at odds and that, in fact, they are mutually reinforcing." The Weekly Standard "Kidd is careful not to adopt an explicitly 'Christian nation' view of the role of religious faith, especially evangelical Christian faith, in the nation's founding... But he is unequivocal in stating that the majority of Americans at the time were Christian believers of some kind or other, and that the evangelical component of them (Patrick Henry, for example) played a formative role in creating the new republic."

• INTRODUCTION "Rebellion to Tyrants Is Obedience to God" Religion and the American Revolution CHAPTER 1 "No King but King Jesus" The Great Awakening and the First Amendment Revolution CHAPTER 2 "The Sacred Property of Every Man" Radical Christians and the Struggle for Religious Liberty in America CHAPTER 3 "The Pope, the Devil, and All Their Emissaries" The Bishop Controversy and Quebec Act CHAPTER 4 "Victory over the Beast" The Evangelical Roots of Revolution CHAPTER 5 "A Christian Sparta" Virtue and the American Revolution CHAPTER 6 "A Time of War" Chaplains, Virtue, and Providence CHAPTER 7 "God Has Made of One Blood All Nations of Men" Equality by Creation CHAPTER 8 "The Bands of Wickedness" Slavery and the American Revolution CHAPTER 9 "One God, Three Gods, No God, or Twenty Gods" Disestablishing America's State Churches CHAPTER 10 "Saving This Land" Revivals and the Era of American Revolution CHAPTER 11 "If Men Were Angels" Virtue, Freedom, and the Constitution CHAPTER 12 "Jefferson-and No God!" The Election of 1800 and the Triumph of Religious Liberty EPILOGUE "Freedom Sees Religion as Its Companion" Faith and American Civil Society