Military Review English Edition March-April 2015 | Page 87

FORCE AND FAITH

(Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

Ratification of the Peace of Münster (Gerard ter Borch, Münster, 1648). The Peace of Münster was a treaty between the Dutch Republic and Spain
signed in 1648 recognizing Dutch independence from the Spanish Crown. The treaty was a part of the Peace of Westphalia, which ended both
the Thirty Years’ War and the Eighty Years’ War. It laid the foundation for the development of the idea of national self-determination in Western
international law.

Prominent scholars of the American founding stress that gaining a full understanding of the
American Revolution and founding era requires an
appreciation for the deep religious roots of America’s
zeal for liberty. This section explores these foundational roots and addresses two simple questions: Does
the religious spirit and outlook of the American revolutionary experience continue with us today? And,
if so, what are the impacts and implications regarding
the conventional narrative that the United States
maintains a great separation between politics and
religion? Understanding the answers to such questions will aid us as we consider the role of faith in the
modern international environment.
First, when one discusses the American founding,
one should clarify which founding is being referenced.
The first American founding arguably occurred early
in the seventeenth century when John Winthrop and
other Puritan leaders set sail on the Arbella to solidify
the settlement that would become the Massachusetts
Bay Colony. On board, Winthrop delivered a sermon
MILITARY REVIEW  March-April 2015

titled “A Model of Christian Charity” that introduced
a phrase that remains at the heart of American foreign policy. Winthrop implored those on the journey
that they should be “as a city upon a hill,” creating
a society that would serve as an example to others
throughout the world.12
The religious fervor of the first founding was later
reinforced during the Great Awakening of the early eighteenth century, contributing to the zeal for
liberty that coalesced in the American Revolution.
The revolution was a “conspiracy of faith and reason”
in that it captured the spiritual yearnings of the Great
Awakening for religious liberty with the enlightenment ideals of a government based upon reason
and individual (natural) rights.13 As John Quincy
Adams noted of the revolution, the Declaration of
Independence “connected, in one indissoluble bond,
the principles of civil government with the principles
of Christianity.”14
A portion of the clergy in America played a leading role in the revolution, reinforcing the connection
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