>> you're watching booktv on c-span2 and we are on location as part of our series at liberty university in lynchburg virginia talking with some of the professor who are also authors and joining us michael babcock. his book and christian america living with faith and in nation the was never under god. professor, let's start with the subtitle, what do you mean by that? >> is a pretty pointed subtitle and speaking as an author at how the experience of riding titles that get changed along the way and that is one that developed in the course of presentation. it wasn't but the notion that

america was and is in some way a christian nation is something that is to be challenged and i try to challenge it in this book and to drive to the heart of what does that mean to claim a america as cultural and as a christian nation, and malae end up with is it is christian only in cultures sometimes as christians we need to understand what that means if we are going to live effectively. it's a historical commonplace that this country was founded by and religious orientation and that's the story the we learn in elementary school. i'm not sure anymore but that's our framework i think it's not controversial to say to the

judeo-christian ethic and that is a kind of cultural argument to make. but at the end of today what are we defending if we say this is a christian country? is the cultural values and as a question i've been called to defend more than that, to speak to something that transcends any culture and i traveled widely throughout the world and by speaking churches there, and i'm working with christians who haven't to be indian in the that is important. when you hear america is unexceptional nation, do you agree, disagree?

there's a doubt that is tricky and controversial to engage in and usually that's bound up in the ideas and we are a condemned people and i want to challenge the berkeley because there are a lot of people in human history that has claimed that hockley. central to rome and the ideals they were called out from the nation's by the gods. therefore that calls into question the premise hawks if you translate that what it means to say america is a god called

dewitt i believe that god is a sovereign god of history that to say the united states is a new israel that is a very common idea of 19th century political ideology and in large measure he's been adopted by some on the religious right to believe that america is a kind of new israel and call in the world because god is doing his work in the world and rather than doing it to the church. >> professor, you write that america is moving to be more secular. is that necessarily a bad thing? does that mean we are not

defending our cultural tradition? >> the argument i make is in the book and i am, and my fellow christians and to recognize the forces of modern history that america because more secular and it's not taken out as we hear the 1960's and that is a watershed in the secularization of america some argue the secularization of america as a century long process of the western world. the modern age has been the story of a secular materialistic world in those few religious ideas and valuable institutions are marginalized and we are seeing that sorted western europe but we are going to have the same problem. it's inevitable of history and christianity is certainly a

historical force within the culture. we should transcend and rise above that. >> you talk about a visit that he made to nepal -- around our institution jerry falwell passed away and that was very moving around here, aren't just campus remember him very fondly for his vision and what his commitment was not to the institution that the nation nassau's the culture and that the perspective for me as well because i remember increasingly how dr. falwell on the number of years spoke

increasingly about the role of the church their everyday lives and that is what is transferring power more than what candidates re-elect or what policies we see put into effect in the house of congress. and i heard him say those things. he himself who is associated with as i was overseas and is all the power of the message of christ at work in a. of any particular culture, no matter how much we are a part of and. the title of your book, the thesis of your book has a controversy on the right, the conservative right.

>> host: the institutions with colleagues it's important to emphasize that liberty university is an academic institution. we are coming in the scholars who follow christ, and the different perspectives and that is something that isn't widely known out of the walls of our institution but i think it's important for people to know that within that community of fallujah beavers we disagree about issues and at the end of the day we are on the same page. >> would you teacher? >> i teach humanities, the history of western culture. as demint i will teach the values of discussing this book and that is one of the things that led me to take these firm won election to another, and if

there's one it's going to be the watershed and there is no turning back. we tend to elevate the importance of the moment we're looking in. it has but when you study history to take 500 years sometimes to develop and the secular is this enough rest of the world. >> unchristian america living faith in the nation that was never under god, liberty university. now more from liberty university professor ron miller south book tv to talk about his book sellout