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One Nation Under God

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One Nation Under God

How Corporate America Invented Christian America

Basic Books,

15 min read
7 take-aways
Audio & text

What's inside?

The political and business elite in the United States rewrote America’s religious narrative for profit and power. 

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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Controversial
  • Analytical
  • Eye Opening

Recommendation

This detailed, eye-opening history of religious nationalism in the United States may shock and upset some readers. However, Princeton University history professor Kevin M. Kruse offers a clear reporting path in his exploration of almost a century of lies, manipulation, and hypocrisy among some of America’s business elite, star preachers, and presidents in pushing a religious agenda for profit and power. Kruse details the role of an eager populace in allowing what he sees as false religion to reach into all aspects of life, including schools. He argues that, if not for the Supreme Court and the resistance of ordinary pastors, priests, and rabbis, the United States might now resemble a Christian theocracy.

Summary

Since the 1930s, religious nationalists have perpetuated the myth that the United States was founded as a Christian nation and have tried to leverage religion for political influence.

The United States’ founding fathers carefully separated church and state as they established freedom of religion as a bedrock American principle, particularly given the history of early colonial settlers who were fleeing religious persecution in Europe.

But in the early 1930s, certain groups began working tirelessly to leverage religion for influence, including political and economic gain. Big business, evangelical religious groups, and the Republican Party joined forces in an effort to undermine President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal. 

As Roosevelt worked to build a social safety net and support for unions grew, a powerful business coalition formed to counter him and the unions. The coalition framed its opposition as a matter of individual freedom versus collectivism. Its proponents equated individuality to the teachings of Jesus Christ and the Bible, and collectivism to the work of Lenin and Marx...

About the Author

Princeton University history professor Kevin M. Kruse is also the author of The Division: John Doar, the Justice Department, and the Civil Rights Movement; White Flight: Atlanta and the Making of Modern Conservatism and Fault Lines: A History of the United States Since 1974. He is the co-author with Julian E. Zelizer of the New York Times bestseller Myth America: Historians Take on the Biggest Legends and Lies about Our Past. He won a 2019 Guggenheim Fellowship and is known for his social media posts offering historical context for current events.

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