God and the Founders

'Vincent Philip Munoz begins this fine book by pointing to a notorious scandal - that there is no evident logic to the opinions handed down over the last sixty years by the U. S. Supreme Court regarding church and state and that over time the confusion sown by the court has grown more seriousness. This state of affairs he traces to the fact that the Justices always cite the Founders in their opinions on this matter and get them wrong. To encourage greater clarity and thoughtfulness in their judicial deliberations, he demonstrates that George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison were, in fact, at odds; he encourages the Justices to make a fully-informed choice between their positions; and he indicates which choice he thinks most reasonable.' Paul Rahe, Hillsdale College 'An engaging, thoroughly researched, and well-written probe into the origins of one of America's most distinctive accomplishments - religious freedom - which also happens to be one of our most contentious contemporary constitutional issues. Munoz is one of the country's brightest young scholars; his first major book should be required reading at the Supreme Court, and indeed wherever issues of religious freedom are discussed in America today.' George Weigel, Ethics and Public Policy Center, Washington, DC 'I know of no other book that does so good a job of probing the theoretical statements of the founders, relating their theory to their practice and then making concrete applications to specific cases and issues. Most of the literature tries to come up with a generalized 'consensus' founding view, which Munoz definitively shows is misguided. Most of the other literature remains at a level of generality that fails to show the concrete implications of the founders' (different) positions. This book definitely makes a contribution to a field on which a great deal has indeed been written.' Michael Zuckert, University of Notre Dame '... this book takes a more systematic approach ... Munoz makes a convincing case ...' History of Political Thought