Conventional wisdom holds that America has been a Christian nation since
the Founding Fathers. But in One Nation Under God, historian Kevin M.
Kruse argues that the idea of "Christian America" is nothing more than a
myth--and a relatively recent one at that.
The assumption that America was, is, and always will be a Christian
nation dates back no further than the 1930s, when a coalition of
businessmen and religious leaders united in opposition to FDR's New
Deal. With the full support of Dwight Eisenhower in the 1950s, these
activists--the forerunners of the Religious Right--propelled religion
into the public sphere. Church membership skyrocketed; Congress added
the phrase "under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance and made "In God We
Trust" the country's official motto. For the first time, America became
a thoroughly religious nation.
Provocative and authoritative, One Nation Under God reveals how the
comingling of money, religion, and politics created a false origin story
that continues to define and divide American politics today.