Rating: 
Summary: This Book Is Wrong About Our Founding Fathers
Review: After reading the sadly ignorant and biased, review by Dennis Harvey that is listed below, I just had to point out that the facts are standards to which we should adhere after placing emotions and heartfelt desires aside. If we are intellectually honest enough to do so, the only "revisionists," are those who still refuse to acknowledge the facts, or attempt to subvert them, even after they have been presented to them. Ignorance of the truth is one thing, refusal to accept it when handed to you on a platter is quite another.That this country was founded upon a common set of Jewish and Christian principles of morality and equality is self-evident, even to the most casual observation, if one but takes the time to examine the facts. Facts such as those presented in this book and others like it. Now, anyone who disagrees with this cannot attack me based upon logic or facts, so they will need to resort to character assignation and perhaps call me narrow minded or bigoted. However, contrary to popular buzz words, Christians are NOT legalistic or bigoted when they stand up for their heritage, any more than one of many other sub-cultures in our society which we are asked to tolerate would be narrow minded in voicing their feelings. Facts hold more weight than feelings though, and individuals like Lehaye have finally said enough is enough and have stood up for the truth. If more people consulted their local library, bypassed the revisionist section, and went straight to the original documents that this country was built upon this country would once again be a bastion of liberty and freedom for ALL. For example, anyone who has heard of Noah's flood account, and then takes the time to read the Old Testament or the Tanakh literally, will come away believing that approximately 4400 years ago there was a global killer of a catastrophic flood just as what we see supported in all walks of science, Archaeology, and Geology to name but two. As such, all "races" or should I more accurately say, "skin colors," on the earth today actually share a common ancestral heritage in our forefather Noah who lived, about 4400 years ago if we are to take Jewish account literally. I choose to do so, because Jewish scribes would bury their scrolls if even a punctuation mark was inaccurate from one copy to the next as the history was passed down from eyewitness account to modern day). Therefore, Christians and Jews who read scripture literally, have a head start on this whole novel concept of "racial equality," since we don't even believe in racial division to begin with - the Bible tells us we are all one blood. The same sort of retort could be proffered for any other silly character slur in the realm of "bigoted and narrow minded" against a Christian for speaking up for the truth. Getting back on topic, the facts remains that our Founding Fathers, though their intellectual honesty and curiosity may have led them to dabble into other lines of thought such as Deism (note Dennis, this is how you spell Deism), there was never the less a deliberate effort on their part to model our form of government upon the skeletal framework of the Jewish Tenakh and the Christian's Canonical, 66 books of the Old and New Testaments. This evidence, as pointed out be Lehaye, David Barton and many others that are now standing up for Christians in this day when anything goes in America -- except for Christianity and Judaism that is -- stands solidly upon the facts, not revisionism as we are so unrightfully being accused of. Lehaye puts forth a noble effort to summarize a small sub-section from the plethora of facts that are available from which to draw ones research, and he defends the original intent of those who laid down their lives for religious freedom from state sponsored religion, such as the Anglican and Roman Catholic state religions that were in place throughout the nations that bordered the Mediterranean Sea at the time of our American Revolution from Great Britain. Today we see all around us events similar to those so vigorously opposed by founding fathers as they strove to build our nation upon Judeo-Christian moral principles and to insure the practice of these principles in complete freedom and liberty from a state mandated religion. Today the cancer that was once the rallying cry which motivated men and women to lay down their lives for freedom is again rearing its ugly head in the form of Secular Humanism, Macro-evolution, and the religion of Atheism - all modern examples of what our founding fathers so greatly feared and warned us would be the unraveling of our society if they were allowed to go unchallenged.
In case after case, our Supreme Court and founding fathers and other scholars who influenced the SC justices and national leaders, such as Blackstone in his various legal texts, continuously referred to the Biblical framework laid down since the beginning of time (as recorded in Hebrew historical writings), as their most preferred and ideal model for our system of government. A system of government that history shows served us quite well until it was thrown out by a rogue court in 1962. Since that day we have been reaping the rewards of our lackadaisical attitude toward our Creator and His will for any nation on earth that will chose to adhere to his will. We had our faults, as we failed to apply scripture literally, such as inequality of slaves and the rights of women, but these were not faults caused by a Judeo-Christian system of government, but rather a failure to apply a Biblically correct world-view to our nations publicly championed moral structure. However, is spite of our flaws in terms of applying a Christ-like love of our neighbors and our spouses to our selves, it was not until we told God to get lost as a nation that we truly began to spiral out of control into the moral relativism that is so prevalent today.
Rating:
Summary: Hey, if Tim Lahaye said it, then it must be true!
Review: As a Christian who studies the Bible on a daily basis, I'm disgusted by how people will listen naively to whatever Tim Lahaye and others say, without thinking critically. (The Bible has many warnings about that too.)
If you REALLY want to learn about the "Faith of Our Founding Fathers" from a scholarly source by somebody who actually has researched facts, then I recommend an accurate and fair (and enjoyable) book instead called, "The Founding Fathers and the Place of Religion in America" by Frank Lambert instead. (ISBN 0691088292)
Yes, the U.S. colonies were established primarily as Christian colonies. However, there were so many disagreements in beliefs, that the states ended up persecuting people who preached different doctrines. People were being hung in Massachusetts because of their beliefs, and that was why Roger Williams left to found Rhode Island, a state that tolerated different religions.
In Virginia, Baptists preachers were thrown in prison because they disagreed with the established Anglican church. One of the people impacted by this was James Madison, who himself had attended a presbyterian seminary. His first action as a freshman lawmaker in Virginia was to fight for the rights of religious minorities. He became a decisive force for the separation of church and state.
Because of the persecution of religious minorities and the efforts by the established churches to silence dissent, the popular attitude was to hate the established churches, because they were seen as power-hungry and corrupt (like some today). That is why people like Madison and Jefferson fought for the creation of a secular government that "deregulated" churches and created a free-market of religious ideas.
Yes, there were other people (like Patrick Henry) who wanted to establish a Christian church, but guess who won in the end? Madison and Jefferson sold the founders on the idea that keeping the church and state in their own separate spheres was best for everyone, and the conventions agreed!
The framers were afraid that if they mentioned God in the Constitution, then that might lead to entanglement between the church and state. Instead of deriving their governmental authority from God, as had been done by other states before them, they wrote a Preamble that said, "We the people...do ordain and establish this Constitution," rather than saying "God ordains this Constitution" (which was proposed). Their preamble was completely different from the "City on a Hill" ideology of the past.
Madison was friends with Thomas Jefferson, a Deistic Unitarian who penned the words "separation of Church and State" in a letter to the Danbury Baptist Association. This letter was important because Jefferson was expressing what he believed was the "original intent" of the first amendment.
Has God cursed our nation as a result of this separation of church and state? Quite the contrary! Just look around and see how God has blessed us. Churches have grown, AND we probably have a higher percentage of Christian believers than before the Constitution was drafted. God never needed civil power to grow his church (look at what the apostles faced).
Friends, we must honestly ask ourselves what is the true agenda behind this push by some Christians to take control of the government, and why do they feel they need civil power?
Rating:
Summary: Less than honest
Review: As a pastor I suggest that Tim Lahaye vision of the Founding Fathers is a less than honest interpretation and revisionism of the lives of these men.
He regularly removes quotes for their historical context and readily leaves false impressions of the spirituality of what was a broadly diverse group of men. Deists, Unitarians, athiests, orthodox and more were the roots of American constitutional government.
Some like Patrick Henry are discussed as beacons of Christian orthodoxy without acknowledging that many of the most orthodox worked against the ratifying of the constitution by the states.
Individual quotations never tell the whole story of the man. The language of God was part of the general public discourse and was used often by many founders for its effect. While at the same time they, also, spoke boldly of the destructive nature of religion, the absence of God from this world in any intimate mannet, the evil of the institutions of faith, etc.
Jefferson's work on his missal called "The Jefferson Bible" displayed a rationalistic distaste for all things supernatural in the Gospels. He and many recognized the destruction the faith wars of europe had caused and believed the philosophies of Hume held more hope than irrational faith.
All in all LaHaye's work borders more more on fiction than fact and serves neither the church nor the public discourse of these men and the events they forged.
Rating: 
Summary: Every President should read this!
Review: Bro. LaHaye has again brought a book that touches the heart and blesses the soul! I used this book as a tool to use in a youth service at our church, and the effects were amazing. You'll understand and see how this country was founded, and the great men of God who followed Him and founded this country. I wish every President would read this book before taking office!
Rating: 
Summary: Leaves out the truth.
Review: Like all revisionist history books, this one convienantly leaves out references to anything that would dispute its claims.
This book makes no mention of Deisim. Thomas Payne wrote a book called "The Age Of Reason" that detailed the beliefs of many of our founding fathers like Thomas Jefferson and most of the big names, yet, there is no mention of it or Thomas Payne. Face it Christains,
many of our founders did not believe in Christ, Moses or Mohammed, and they had the good sense to put separation of church and state into the constitution. Thank God.
Rating:
Summary: Well Intentioned, But Off Center
Review: Mr. Lehaye's clear intent was to bolster our confidence in the Christian roots of our country. Unfortunately, his depiction while factual leaves out ideas that would give his reader's a better perspective on the Faith of our ForeFathers.
Rating:
Summary: Well Intentioned, But Off Center
Review: Mr. Lehaye's clear intent was to bolster our confidence in the Christian roots of our country. Unfortunately, his depiction while factual leaves out ideas that would give his reader's a better perspective on the Faith of our ForeFathers.
Rating:
Summary: This Book Is Wrong About Our Founding Fathers
Review: This book is wrong about our founding fathers. Thomas Jefferson hoped that our country would be one of religious diversity. Today he'd be considered a Unitarian. He had friends who were Buddhist and Hindu. Jefferson was a Deist. So were Washington, Adams, Franklin, Paine, Hamilton, Madison. They admired the teachings of Jesus but they did not consider Jesus to be a divine being, and they did not accept the Old Testament version of God (a cruel, vengeful, authoritarian, anthropomorphic being). Read some of the letters our founding fathers wrote. They believed in science and reason. They denounced the narrow-minded intolerant Christian bigots of their day. James Madison said in a speech in 1778: "Freedom arises from the multiplicity of sects, which pervades America and which is the best and only security for religious liberty in any society. For where there is such a variety of sects, there cannot be a majority of any one sect to oppress and persecute the rest." Read "Why the Religious Right is Wrong about the Separation of Church and State" and "The Christ Conspiracy".
Rating:
Summary: File this under fiction
Review: This book, like his Left Behind series, demonstrates that Lahaye is one of the most prolific writers of fiction today.
Rating:
Summary: Willful Ignorance of Founding Fathers
Review: To those who propagandize the Founding Fathers as non Theists. Please read their own personal statements. Thomas Jefferson:
"Can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the gift of God?" John Adams:
"The greatest glory of the American Revolution was this: It connected in one indissoluble bond, the principles of civil government with the principles of Christianity." "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."
"We have no government armed with power capable of contending with passions unbridled by morality and religion." George Washington's Morning Prayer:
O eternal and everlasting God, I presume to present myself this morning before thy Divine majesty, beseeching thee to accept of my humble and hearty thanks, that it hath pleased thy great goodness to keep and preserve me the night past from all the dangers poor mortals are subject to, and has given me sweet and pleasant sleep, whereby I find my body refreshed and comforted for performing the duties of this day, in which I beseech thee to defend me from all perils of body and soul.
Direct my thoughts, words and work. Wash away my sins in the immaculate blood of the lamb, and purge my heart by thy Holy Spirit, from the dross of my natural corruption, that I may with more freedom of mind and liberty of will serve thee, the ever lasting God, in righteousness and holiness this day, and all the days of my life.
Increase my faith in the sweet promises of the Gospel. Give me repentance from dead works. Pardon my wanderings, & direct my thoughts unto thyself, the God of my salvation. Teach me how to live in thy fear, labor in thy service, and ever to run in the ways of thy commandments. Make me always watchful over my heart, that neither the terrors of conscience, the loathing of holy duties, the love of sin, nor an unwillingness to depart this life, may cast me into a spiritual slumber. But daily frame me more and more into the likeness of thy son Jesus Christ, that living in thy fear, and dying in thy favor, I may in thy appointed time attain the resurrection of the just unto eternal life. Bless my family, friends & kindred unite us all in praising & glorifying thee in all our works begun, continued, and ended, when we shall come to make our last account before thee blessed Saviour, who hath taught us thus to pray, our Father.
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