especially george whitfield. if the goal is to find particular men who exemplify the process, george whitfield can play that role as the great evangelist. there is public conversation where some conservative pundits have argued, so george whitfield is america's spiritual founding father, to use the title of a recent book, and he should be elevated to a particularly high level, attributing to george whitfield constituting the new birth. some evangelical historians have come out and pushed back on that. the great awakening and whitfield are seen as absolutely essential events. questions of theocracy and the first amendment, those are not discussed in any significant depth. if liberty is the principle of the founding era, it is embodied in the first amendment. it's right and we apply it to subsequent moments. the complexities that might come out of what the first amendment the process of creating the first ate,mendment, the readings of the first amendment the culture wars context is usually a little bit off to the s

the concept of the new birth, which obviously far pre-davis george whitfield some have come out and pushed back on that a little bit, but, yes the great awakening and whitfield are seen as central events. in terms of theocracy and the first amendment, those are not discussed with any significant depth. i think it's because of the focus on principles. so, if liberty is the principle of the foundinger foundingera, it is embodied in the first amendment. it's right and we apply it to subsequent moments. the complexities that might come out of what the first amendment the process of creating the first amendment. different readings, those are addressed within a culture wars context and the culture wars context is usually a little bit off to the side of this discussion because it's so admittedly political. it's not centrally promali. ized. >> hi. i have two questions. one for kate and one for spencer. my first question to kate is: if the length between -- i am very interested in this link between moses or the ancients is recallites and -- israelites and the may flower compact and how they l

at the concept of the new birth which obviously far predates george whitfield.evangelical historians have come back and pushed back on a little bit but yes the great awakening are seen as absolutely central events. just the question of theocracy no those are questions that are not discussed and i think it's because of the focus on principle it is embodied in the first amendment and its right. then you apply at the subsequent moment, so the complexities that might come out of what the first amendment process of creating the first amendment in different readings those are mostly interested in the culture war context and the culture war of context is usually a little bit off to the side of the discussion because it is so admittedly political. so it is not favorite iced. >> i have two questions. one for kate and one for spencer. my first question is the link between -- i'm very interested in the link between the ancient israelites and the mayflower compact and i'd like you to speak a little bit more about how they were linked. how exactly they justified justified ab