Despite constitutional limitations, the points of contact between religion and politics have deeply affected all aspects of American political development since the founding of the United States. Within partisan politics, federal institutions, and movement activism, religion and politics have rarely been truly separate; rather, they are two forms of cultural expression that are continually coevolving and reconfiguring in the face of social change. Faithful Republic explores the dynamics between religion and politics in the United States from the early twentieth century to the present. Rather than focusing on the traditional question of the separation between church and state, this volume touches on many other aspects of American political history, addressing divorce, civil rights, liberalism and conservatism, domestic policy, and economics. Together, the essays blend church history and lived religion to fashion an innovative kind of political history, demonstrating the pervasiveness of religion throughout American political life. Contributors : Lila Corwin Berman, Edward J. Blum, Darren Dochuk, Lily Geismer, Alison Collis Greene, Matthew S. Hedstrom, David Mislin, Bethany Moreton, Andrew Preston, Bruce J. Schulman, Molly Worthen, Julian E. Zelizer. " Faithful Republic is a magnificent collection, one that showcases the impressive scholarship of a new generation of American historians working at the intersection of religion and politics. Diverse in their topics but uniformly strong in their treatment, these essays represent the cutting edge of an important field." ― Kevin M. Kruse, author of One Nation Under God: How Corporate America Invented Christian America "The essays collected here are outstanding and bring to light some of the best scholarship on a topic in which new work is rapidly emerging and fundamentally changing. The research is excellent-the book is full of archival finds from all over the country-and the analyses are stimulating, often sparkling." ― Paul Harvey, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs Andrew Preston teaches history at Cambridge University, where he is a Fellow of Clare College. His most recent books include America in the World: A History in Documents from the War with Spain to the War on Terror and Sword of the Spirit, Shield of Faith: Religion in American War and Diplomacy. Bruce J. Schulman is William E. Huntington Professor of History at Boston University. He is the author of The Seventies: The Great Shift in American Culture, Politics, and Society. Julian E. Zelizer is Malcolm Stevenson Forbes, Class of 1941 Professor of History and Public Affairs at Princeton University and a Fellow at New America. He is a contributor for CNN.com and author of several books, most recently The Fierce Urgency of Now: Lyndon Johnson, Congress, and the Battle for the Great Society. Introduction Andrew Preston, Bruce Schulman, and Julian E. Zelizer The mingling of religion and politics has formed a defining feature of American public life ever since the founding of the United States as a nation. This potent, sometimes explosive mixture has been remarkably pervasive, especially given the limitations the Constitution placed on the extent to which religious faith can participate as a function of government. The only guidance the Constitution offered on religion's standing in politics came in Article VI, which prohibited the use of religious tests to determine if someone is eligible for national office. The Bill of Rights addressed religion more directly—the first sentence of the First Amendment guaranteed religious liberty through the establishment and free exercise clauses—but did so briefly, in only sixteen words. Legally, then, religion received no official role in national governance, and certainly no endorsement or encouragement. Politically, however, religion has always been prominent in American public life. "Of all the dispositions and habits, which lead to political prosperity, Religion and Morality are indispensable supports," declared George Washington in his farewell address of 1796. "The mere Politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them." Washington was a child of the Enlightenment and by no means an orthodox Protestant. Nonetheless, it seemed obvious to him that a healthy republic depended upon virtue, that virtue depended upon morality, and that morality depended on religion. According to Washington, in other words, democratic self-government could not exist without religion. "Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure," he concluded, "reason and experience both forbid us to expect, that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle." Not everyone shared Washington's vision of a religious republic. Thomas Jefferson, a deist and humanist who denied the divinity of Jesus and harbored suspicion toward institutional religion, sought to limit the place of faith in gover