In Rediscovering God in America: Reflections on the Role of Faith in our Nation’s History and Future, Newt and Callista Gingrich take the reader on a “walking tour” of Washington D.C. According to Speaker Gingrich, “There is no attack on American culture more destructive and more historically dishonest than the secular left’s relentless effort to drive God out of America’s public square.” This book is a defense against that attack.
There are thirteen stops on the walking tour. Each features the photography of Mrs. Gingrich, while Mr. Gingrich gives proof that the founding fathers did not intend for the separation of church and state to be a prohibition of religious expression. From the engraved quotation of Scripture in the reading room of the Library of Congress to the statue of Moses in the Supreme Court building, Washington is a perpetual reminder that the earliest Americans knew that “the blessings of God are the basis of our liberty, prosperity, and survival as a unique country.”
Like many apologetic works, this book does not promote any particular religion. That is not the author’s purpose. Mr. Gingrich aims to protect the nation’s freedom of (and diversity of) religious expression, as did the authors of the Bill of Rights.
Rediscovering God in America was originally published in 2006 and was a New York Times best seller. The Thomas Nelson version was just released (October 2009). I missed the first one but am glad to have read this one. It is both enjoyable and educational, and it’s just long enough to make you want to learn more. It will make a good addition to our home-school library and will be useful in teaching history and government.
I received this book through the Thomas Nelson Book Review Blogger Program.
