Did the United States truly have a Christian founding, or were the Founders simply Deists who desired to create a secular nation?
This question has been hotly debated for generations, and our society increasingly regards the idea of America’s Christian heritage as something to be minimized, rejected, or denied.
So what is the truth regarding the faith of the Founders and how it influenced their actions as they fought a revolution and brought forth a new nation?
To answer this question we’re speaking with historian Mark David Hall. Hall is one of the most distinguished scholars of early American history. He is a professor, a nationally-recognized expert on religious freedom, and the author of several books, including Did America Have a Christian Founding?
In this conversation we’ll discuss how Christianity shaped our nation, how much impact deism actually had on some of the founders, the true meaning of the separation of church and state, and how we can return to the biblical founding principles that made America a great nation.
Listen to the Conversation
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Meet Our Guest

Mark David Hall is the Herbert Hoover Distinguished Professor of Politics and Faculty Fellow in the Honors Program at George Fox University. He is also associated faculty at the Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University and senior fellow at Baylor University’s Institute for Studies of Religion. He has written, edited, or co-edited a dozen books on religion and politics in America and is a nationally recognized expert on religious freedom. Learn more at MarkDavidHall.org.
Additional Resources
- Learn About Founder Roger Sherman, the only person to sign all four great state papers of the United States: the Continental Association, Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation, and U.S. Constitution. See Hall’s book on Sherman
- Visit MarkDavidHall.org
- Federalist Papers No. 10 (1787)
- Federalist Papers No. 51 (1788)
- George Washington’s Thanksgiving Proclamation of 1789
- See other books by Mark David Hall
- Pre-Order a copy of Proclaim Liberty Throughout All the Land: How Christianity Has Advanced Freedom and Equality for All Americans
Watch Our Conversation

Did America Have a Christian Founding?: Separating Modern Myth from Historical Truth
A distinguished professor debunks the assertion that America’s Founders were deists who desired the strict separation of church and state and instead shows that their political ideas were profoundly influenced by their Christian convictions.