Claremont Institute Prof. Glenn Ellmers began a talk during a Hillsdale College conference on “Christianity in America” by citing the famous letter President George Washington wrote to the Jewish community of Newport, Rhode Island. (Ellmers’ talk was adapted and published in the December 2024 edition of Hillsdale’s Imprimis.)

Ellmers makes a reasoned case for the indispensable role of religion in the American Founding. Once out of fashion in academia, such people as Elmers and Eric Nelson of Harvard (of all places!)  have made a good case that religion profoundly influenced the Founders and the constitutional thought that inspired them.
This pre-Sinai covenant did not mandate religious uniformity.... Rather, each country could set laws that governed their own religious practice.
Ellmers’ choice to begin the talk with Washington’s letter is apt. Written in a dignified, clear, and resonant language, Washington’s letter is of national and civilizational importance, marking an inflection point in the intertwined history of religion and politics.
There is far more in that letter’s significance than one talk can contain. Ellmers’ stress, in accordance with the conference’s title, was the role of Christianity. I would like to set out here something the professor did not explore: the unique contribution made by Judaism beyond Scripture. The valuing of that contribution of the rabbis by Christian political thinkers was indispensable to the great unfolding of our Republic.
The driving passion that puts fire into Ellmers’ well-considered words is a fear that plagued many Americans going into the 2025 elections: The faith of America’s Christians and Jews has been mocked and increasingly threatened by an aggressively secular, even atheistic, ruling class.
We are in danger of losing the precious gift of religious freedom which took almost 2,000 years for the Christian West to put into practice.
The inadequate, pro forma response of the Obamaites (DBA the Biden Administration) to ...