Alf F. Mapp, author of The Faiths of Our Fathers, begins his book with these paragraphs:

Perhaps it should not be surprising that a time such as ours, with markedly increased interest in America’s Founding Fathers and in religion, has spawned many questions about the religion of the nation’s early patriots.

Some questioners seek enlightenment from the thoughts of some of America’s best minds. Others seek increased understanding of prominent molders of our culture. Still others approach the question in the spirit of choosing sides in a contest, wanting to claim the most outstanding players for their team whether it be fundamentalist or atheist, or something between.

There was no monolithic national faith acknowledged by all Founding Fathers. Their religious attitudes were as varied as their political opinions.

I commend Mapp’s book to you as a historian’s perspective on the evidence for faith on the part of many key players in America’s beginnings. (While I’m recommending books, don’t miss Pilgrims in Their Own Land: 500 Years of Religion in America, a much broader and deeper study by Martin E. Marty, the dean of historians of American Christianity.)

Next Sunday, First Baptist Church of Plano hosts Dr. C. Edward Spann, who along with Dr. Michael Williams, wrote a delightful book titled Presidential Praise: Our Presidents and Their Hymns. Dr. Spann will creatively lead us through a morning of worship based on the hymns which were chosen by American presidents for their inauguration ceremonies. This excerpt from the book should set the stage:

Many American presidents lived through unimaginable dark hours of indecision when they communicated with God through prayers, often expressed in a hymn. . . . (H)ymns serve the same purpose in the life of a commander in chief as they do in the life of a private citizen. The hymns a person sings, whether in public or private, inform us of that person’s faith.

I hope you will bring friends and family to express gratitude to God for the grace He has given us in Jesus. Don’t let them miss it!