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The alliance between evangelicals and Madison and Jefferson reappeared at critical junctures. When Madison ran for Congress in the first elections, against the charismatic war hero James Monroe, it was the Baptists who rallied to him because of his support for the separation of church and state. It was the evangelicals who prodded Madison into proposing a Bill of Rights that guaranteed religious freedom and limited the government role in religion.

The most pungent illustration of the alliance rolled toward the White House on New Year's Day in 1802. Standing at the door of the new presidential mansion in Washington, President Thomas Jefferson saw two horses pulling a dray carrying a 1,235-pound cheese with an inscription: "Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God." The cheese was a gift from evangelical activist the Rev. John Leland of western Massachusetts — a "thank you" for Jefferson's support of the separation of church and state.

It is commonly assumed that Baptists supported the separation of church and state to avoid persecution. That was certainly partly true. The Baptists of Virginia suffered a wave of persecution at that time. But the evangelical passion for keeping church and state separate had theological roots, too. Christians were to render unto Caesar what was his — the religious and political spheres were meant, by Jesus, to be separate. Just as important, both the Baptists and the philosophers believed in the primacy of individual freedom. For Madison and Jefferson, individual liberty trumped the rights of kings or governments; for evangelicals, an individual's personal relationship with God was more important than church and clerical authority. Let's remember who will provide the final assessment of a life well lived, Leland wrote: "If government can answer for individuals at the day of judgment, let men be controlled by it in religious matters; otherwise, let men be free."

If alive today, 18th-century evangelicals might well agree with their theological descendants that the nation needs more religion. But they would disagree that it requires more state support or advocacy for religion. It was the evangelicals who worked with Madison to shape the true "founding faith," which was not Christianity or secularism. It was religious liberty — a revolutionary formula for promoting faith by leaving it alone.

Steven Waldman, editor-in-chief of Beliefnet.com, is the author of Founding Faith: Providence, Politics and the Birth of Religious Freedom in America, published by Random House.

Copyright © 2008 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

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March (Web-only) 2008, Vol. 52