Why is it important to religion advocates to establish the spirituality of the Founding Fathers?
I don’t really see any sinister motives in the people who want to establish the religious beliefs of the Founding Fathers. I think that perhaps on one level—the individual level—a Christian teacher might believe that there are certain inherent qualities in religion that would benefit young people. But more broadly, in terms of the movement to “take back history” from the secularists, I think that some of it is a sincere effort to correct the record, as they see it. And some of it, probably, is just culture war. You know: The other side has made these gains over the years, and now we’ve gotta fight back and retake some lost ground. For many years after Engel v. Vitale in 1962, the Supreme Court was fairly strong in its reinforcement of the wall between church and state. But more recently, you write, there have been cases where religious groups have, for instance, won the right to use school facilities. How far might the pendulum swing? The pendulum is definitely swinging back toward a g
