Copyright: 2008

Publisher: BlueBridge

ISBN: 1-933346-09-4

In Revolutionary Spirits: The Enlightened Fatih of America's Founding Fathers, Gary Kowalski explores the spiritual background of a number of our founding fathers, including George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and James Madison.  Kowalski has a rather plain bias, labeling our founding fathers at one point as "progressives".  He painfully tries to make the argument that our founding fathers, contrary to popular belief, were not really all that religious. 

Unfortunately for Kowalski, he is trying to undo a long tradition of historians.  There are volumes upon multiple volumes that catalogue and detail the writings of the founding fathers and point very strongly to the influence that religion had on their thoughts, writings and decisions.  Kowalski, in under 200 pages, has time only to present one side of the evidence for his arguments.  He painstakingly digs through the writings and statements of the founding fathers looking for evidence that they really weren't "true believers."

Whatever the truth may be, Kowalski falls short of convincing the previously unconvinced.  Liberals and progressives will likely point to this book as "proof" that we aren't really a Christian nation and that Christian principles do not underlie our founding documents.  Unfortunately, anyone with even a cursory understanding of Christianity can easily point to a number of principles found in our Declaration of Independence and Constitution that clearly come from Christian influence.

Clearly our founding fathers wanted to be inclusive. They went out of their way to not offend those not of their particular faith.  Like most religious people, the founding fathers had differences of opinions with their own churches and like most Christians they went through periods of doubt and questioning.  To point to some of these evidences as proof that the founding fathers were not Christians or that we are not a Christian nation is a bit of a stretch.

To be fair, many on the religious right have gone too far in the other direction, claiming that perhaps some of the founding fathers shared their own particular beliefs.  Digging up obscure references and finding anecdotal evidence to suppor their claim, they wish to paint George Washington and Ben Franklin with a brush that mirrors their own lives. 

The truth likely lies somewhere between the religious right and Kowalski's slightly biased history.  Our founding fathers were clearly influenced by their religious backgrounds but they were all fiercely protective of religious freedom, not just toleration.  Kowalski doubtless has provided a much needed perspective on our founding fathers and the time period, but you should read it understanding his bias.  To his credit, he doesn't try too hard to feign impartiality.  Overall the book is worthy of a good read by anyone interested in that time period.