"In God We Trust": The Religious Beliefs and Ideas of the American Founding Fathers. Selected, Edited, and with Commentary by Norman Cousins. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1958. viii + 464 pp. $5.95

1960 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-73
Author(s):  
W. F. Taylor
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Religious Beliefs ◽  
American Founding ◽  
Founding Fathers

The “Separation” of Religion and Polities: The Paradoxes of Spinoza

1988 ◽  
Vol 50 (4) ◽  
pp. 603-627 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hillel G. Fradkin
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Liberal Democracy ◽  
Religion And Politics ◽  
The United States ◽  
Religious Values ◽  
The Political ◽  
Moral Action ◽  
American Founding ◽  
Founding Fathers

Benedict Spinoza is the first philosophical proponent of liberal democracy. In his Theologico-Political Tractate he calls for the liberation of philosophy from theology and for the subordination of religion to politics. Though Spinoza may have not influenced the American Founding Fathers directly, both the clarity and the paradoxes of his arguments are perhaps the best guide to understanding better the present-day conflicts over religion and politics in the United States. Spinoza's insistence on the prerogative of the political sovereign to exercise absolute authority in the sphere of moral action necessarily complicates religious values. But the “inconveniences” resulting from liberal democracy are justified in terms of justice.

At Freedom's Door: African American Founding Fathers and Lawyers in Reconstruction South Carolina

2000 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 491
Author(s):  
Charles Vincent ◽  
James Lowell Underwood ◽  
W. Lewis Burke
Keyword(s):  
South Carolina ◽  
African American ◽  
American Founding ◽  
Founding Fathers
Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document