One Nation Under God - Kevin M. Kruse

One Nation Under God

By Kevin M. Kruse

  • Release Date: 2015-04-14
  • Genre: U.S. History
4.5 Score: 4.5 (From 12 Ratings)
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Description

The provocative and authoritative history of the origins of Christian America in the New Deal era

We're often told that the United States is, was, and always has been a Christian nation. But in One Nation Under God, historian Kevin M. Kruse reveals that the belief that America is fundamentally and formally Christian originated in the 1930s.

To fight the "slavery" of FDR's New Deal, businessmen enlisted religious activists in a campaign for "freedom under God" that culminated in the election of their ally Dwight Eisenhower in 1952. The new president revolutionized the role of religion in American politics. He inaugurated new traditions like the National Prayer Breakfast, as Congress added the phrase "under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance and made "In God We Trust" the country's first official motto. Church membership soon soared to an all-time high of 69 percent. Americans across the religious and political spectrum agreed that their country was "one nation under God."

Provocative and authoritative, One Nation Under God reveals how an unholy alliance of money, religion, and politics created a false origin story that continues to define and divide American politics to this day.

Reviews

  • Just remember, the Founding Fathers called it a WALL of separation between Church and State

    5
    By Josey86
    This is a terrifying book that, as a modern American who is not Christian, is a window into the conservative so-called Christian movement that has now become “the right” and more frighteningly the “alt-right.” For a movement that likes to tell everyone else to “learn your history,” they clearly have no idea about their own. This is such an important book for all Americans. I was honestly familiar with most of this history, but hadn’t linked all of it together in this way before (probably because this faction has taken over the education system and certainly would never allow these provable facts to be taught - just look at the prayer in school nonsense). If I hadn’t already disliked Billy Graham, this book would certainly have made me dislike him. If you are an American that is not Christian, or are the type of Christian that believes people are free to believe what they want, this book will terrify the living daylights out of you, as it should. There is a reason this group doesn’t want the constitution read or taught beyond the preamble: their argument falls apart when you do. I will now be reading the entire document (all seven articles) that was signed in 1789.

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