NOTE: A correction and retraction is in order. I wrote a post entitled "Mark Noll on the Founders, Original Sin, Reason & Revelation," found here, here and here.
A commenter noted "[a] closer inspection of the book reveals that John M. Murrin is actually the writer, not Noll. Noll edited this book."
It was an interesting post. A taste (QUOTING MYSELF):
Pages 31-32 in his 1990 book "Religion and American Politics" contain some interesting analysis. First he notes the Constitution was the 18th century equivalent of a "secular humanist text." Next he notes the delegates were not an orthodox group of men in any doctrinal sense. Noll states perhaps only ONE, Richard Bassett of Delaware, was a "born again Christian." Though Sherman "may" have been. Further, Noll notes Washington, Franklin, Hamilton, Madison, Wilson, and G. Morris gave no sign of belief in "original sin" at this phase in their life.
Noll then describes, using Jerry Falwell and Jimmy Swaggart as examples, how the Founders were actually closer to secular humanists than modern evangelicals (on a personal note, I'd say they were somewhere in between; they were "theistic humanists").
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