The Constitution of Religious Freedom: God, Politics, and the First Amendment

Dennis J. Goldford is Professor of Politics at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa. The author of The American Constitution and the Debate Over Originalism, Goldford has contributed election cycle political analysis to more than eighty major newspapers, magazines, or wire services in the United States, Canada, Japan, and many European and Eastern European countries. He lives in Clive, Iowa.

Goldford's robust defense of the Religion Clauses as protecting religious freedom--and not religion itself--is a welcome antidote to conservative scholars and advocates.

In this tightly reasoned but accessible volume, Goldford exposes the mistaken assumption that the American government espouses a religious mission rather than champions a commitment to religious freedom. The Constitution of Religious Freedom should be required reading for the policymakers and policy activists who shape the role of religion in American political life.

Goldford's book is logically and compellingly argued. He fearlessly and thoughtfully examines one of the most controversial--often blithely assumed and curiously dismissed--propositions in American politics today--that the United States is a Christian nation. Indeed, Goldford's refutation of this idea is devastating, yet always respectful and erudite.