''The Founding Myth: Why Christian Nationalism Is Un-American'' is a 2019 book by constitutional lawyer Andrew Seidel about the
separation of church and state
The separation of church and state is a philosophical and jurisprudential concept for defining political distance in the relationship between religious organizations and the state. Conceptually, the term refers to the creation of a secular sta ...
in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
.
Synopsis
The book began as a
law review
A law review or law journal is a scholarly journal or publication that focuses on legal issues. A law review is a type of legal periodical. Law reviews are a source of research, imbedded with analyzed and referenced legal topics; they also pro ...
article by Andrew Seidel, an attorney at the
Freedom From Religion Foundation. According to the author, the book attempts to provide historically correct facts and arguments for its positions and those of the separationist side. It rebuts the idea of
Christian nationalism
Christian nationalism is Christianity-affiliated religious nationalism. Christian nationalists primarily focus on internal politics, such as passing laws that reflect their view of Christianity and its role in political and social life. In count ...
. In four parts, Seidel makes his case with reference to the
founders
Founder or Founders may refer to:
Places
*Founders Park, a stadium in South Carolina, formerly known as Carolina Stadium
* Founders Park, a waterside park in Islamorada, Florida
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Founders (''Star Trek''), the ali ...
and the
colonies
In modern parlance, a colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule. Though dominated by the foreign colonizers, colonies remain separate from the administration of the original country of the colonizers, the '' metropolitan state'' ...
, the influence of the
Bible
The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of a ...
in the United States, a contrasting of the
Ten Commandments
The Ten Commandments (Biblical Hebrew עשרת הדברים \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדְּבָרִים, ''aséret ha-dvarím'', lit. The Decalogue, The Ten Words, cf. Mishnaic Hebrew עשרת הדיברות \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדִּבְ ...
and the
Constitution
A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of Legal entity, entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed.
When ...
, and the use of uniquely American mottoes, such as
In God We Trust
"In God We Trust" (also rendered as "In God we trust") is the United States national motto, official motto of the United States and of the U.S. state of Florida. It was adopted by the U.S. Congress in 1956, replacing ("Out of many, one"), whic ...
.
The foreword of the book was written by
Susan Jacoby
Susan Jacoby (; born June 4, 1945) is an American author. Her 2008 book about American anti-intellectualism, ''The Age of American Unreason'', was a ''New York Times'' best seller. She is an atheist and a secularist. Jacoby graduated from Michiga ...
, and the preface by
Dan Barker
Daniel Edwin Barker (born June 25, 1949) is an American atheist activist and musician who served as an evangelical Christian preacher and composer for 19 years but left Christianity in 1984. He and his wife Annie Laurie Gaylor are the current c ...
.
Reception
The ''
Los Angeles Review of Books
The ''Los Angeles Review of Books'' (''LARB'' is a literary review magazine covering the national and international book scenes. A preview version launched on Tumblr in April 2011, and the official website followed one year later in April 2012. ...
'' called the book "brilliant, ambitious, well-researched, and compelling" and said Seidel presented "strong arguments" against Christian nationalism: that the United States Constitution is "deliberately godless" and that it expressly forbids
religious test A religious test is a legal requirement to swear faith to a specific religion or sect, or to renounce the same.
In the United Kingdom
British Test Act of 1673 and 1678
The Test Act of 1673 in England obligated all persons filling any office, ci ...
s for office in
Article VI. ''
Publishers Weekly
''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of B ...
'' said that it is a "furious debut" providing a "fervent takedown" of Christian Nationalism yet also said "readers who don’t agree with Seidel will dismiss his forceful tone".
In 2019, conservative
evangelical
Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide Interdenominationalism, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "bor ...
pastor Greg Locke
burned a copy of the book which Seidel had sent to Locke to review. Locke posted a video of the book burning to his
social media
Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...
accounts. While Seidel sent Locke a copy of the book in hopes of sparking a conversation about the issues in question, Locke admitted beforehand that he had no intention of ever reading the book. Response to the video included many replies expressing the intention to purchase and read the book and to donate copies to libraries, which Locke called an example of the
Streisand effect
Attempts to hide, remove, or censor information often have the unintended consequence of increasing awareness of that information via the Internet. This is called the Streisand effect. It is named after American singer and actress Barbra Streis ...
.
References
Further reading
*
*
External links
* Andrew Seidel and Mark David Hall discuss their books
{{DEFAULTSORT:Founding Myth, The
2019 non-fiction books
Books about Christianity
Christian nationalism
History of religion in the United States
Law books
Separation of church and state in the United States
Sterling Publishing books