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Balmer, a Princeton divinity professor, makes a persuasive argument that the constitutional division between faith and politics has allowed a vibrant religious environment to flourish in America, and that recent attempts by an emboldened engelical movement are a betrayal of that long-held principle. The book is relatively short and accessible, always a plus, and summarizes movements like Roger Williams' departure from Puritan Massachussetts to form Rhode Island, the founding fathers fears of state churches, the Mormonism movement in America, the Johnson Amendments to the tax code, the rise of the evangelical wing of the GOP, and finally, the current Christian nationalist movement.

This is essentially a light and accessible law review article, broken into chapters and bound in a book. It was released in 2020, and for its moment, it's pretty accurate and prescient. Witt offers two paths that the U.S. can take in public health, and 5 years later, it's rather depressing to see how rapidly we took the individual liberty-obsessed path he warned about.