Under God by Gary Wills

I am a huge admirer of Gary Wills and his writing. He is cerebral and never writes down to his assumed audience. This critically acclaimed book about Religion and American Politics is a wonder.

Written after the election of 1988 we have views into many of the candidates including Dukakis and Bush but also Pat Robertson and Jesse Jackson. Wills also writes about the politics of abortion and the different viewpoints of different evangelicals.

This is not light reading. I have read Wills Catholic books and books on the Gospels, Paul and Jesus himself, this book is much less accessible. That said if one wades in it is profound. I read a chapter a day as the chapters being quite short provided plenty to think about and mull over for a day or two after reading.

For me the most influential section were the chapters on Jefferson and his views on church and state. Jefferson is one of the odd figures in history in that folks on both sides of an argument will claim his rhetoric to substantiate their claims. Wills argues that Jefferson, and this is borne out by some of his writings released well after his death, subscribed to Jesus as a great teacher but fudged on the miracles and spirituality. Jefferson subscribed to a separation of church and state but more to protect his view of proper religion. Jefferson felt that religion endorsed by the state had a power to corrupt both the state and those leaders of the state approved church.

If one looks at history since Jefferson's time one can clearly see that the seperation religion and politics is as important today as it has ever been and no one can question it's ability to mitigate religion.

It seems clear that Wills is a spiritual man and a follower of Jesus and the saints. However much as in his earlier works he seems to have little use for organized religion.

Books by Wills and Keller make clear that in thier view Jesus was not for religion he was for a relationship with God. Jefferson wrote that all of the layers and formulas for approaching God by clergy of all types reduced the ability of religion to serve as a good force. Jefferson acknowledged that of any religion the Quakers with their horizontal church structure and lack of leaders and interpretative bias was closer to what Jesus meant.

A very intersting book. Wills never disapoints.