Originally appeared in the "Christian Library Journal" in 1995.

In Faith of Our Founding Fathers, Tim LaHaye seeks to prove that, contrary to what is now taught in schools and upheld by the media and the government, the Framers of the Constitution believed in Christian principles and incorporated these beliefs in the Constitution.

Those who did attend [the Constitutional Convention] were selected for their deep commitment to Puritan and Calvinistic doctrines, as well as for other political considerations. Their goal was not to establish a democracy in which ‘every man does that which is right in his own eyes.’ Instead, they formulated a representative form of government based on divinely inspired law. The Constitution they wrote and the government they founded upon it verified that they never intended to establish a secular nation. Instead, it was and still is ‘one nation under God’ (p. 22).

To support his thesis, LaHaye explains the historical events that led up to the writing of the Constitution and lists the historical documents that influenced the authors. He also describes the Christian cultural consensus that existed in the colonies and how it shaped the beliefs of the Founding Fathers. In the second half of the book, LaHaye takes a closer look at the individual beliefs of the delegates who attended the Convention, with one in-depth chapter dedicated to George Washington and Benjamin Franklin.

Throughout the book, the author stresses how most of the Founding Fathers adhered to Christian principles. Contrary to what liberals claim today, many of the Framers of the Constitution viewed secular humanism as a threat to a self-governing society of free people.

The book closes with a call for Christians to act now to return the nation to a Christian consensus, and in doing so, secure our constitutional freedoms.

The book is generally well-written. However, LaHaye does borrow heavily from modern scholars and not so much from original documents. Sometimes he tells what a person believed, but doesn’t let that person “speak” in his own words by quoting primary sources. This book would also be more useful if it had an index.

Anyone interested in defending the Constitution as a biblically based document would find this book helpful. It could also serve as a supplement text for a high school American history class. ( )

history

This book should stand as a great starter for those who are looking to learn more about the faith of the men who founded America. There's a lot of good information here, but there's not enough for a serious student or for someone who's facing serious criticism of Christianity. The author does take some things slightly out of context and does not always tell the entire story which is not really untruthful in this context, but would not be sufficient for debating purposes. ( )

The title and introduction set high expectations that were not met. He does offer some strong context regarding the religious outlook of the founding fathers, but the connection between Christ and Constitution is a stretch. The strongest points are: demonstrating the evangelical outlook of several of the key players in our early government, demonstrating the prominence of God in early government and educational institutions, and delivering a thorough history of the genesis of our Constitution. The weakest areas: too much interjection of non-sequiter arguments (unwed teens, etc) and drawing on evidence that I found doubtful (suggesting without Columbus no one would had discovered the New World). Most valuable are his points around original intent and current application of free speech, church and state, and secular humanism. He does successfully show that the original founders would not have agreed with the drive to eliminate all elements of faith from government and education and he does show the course that brought us to our current state. ( )

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