Frank Lambert tackles the central claims of the Religious Right "historians" who insist that America was conceived as a "Christian State," that modern-day "liberals" and "secularists" have distorted and/or ignored the place of religion in American history, and that the phrase "the separation of church and state" does not appear in any of the founding documents and is, therefore, a myth created by the Left. He discusses what separates "bad" history from "good" history, and concludes that the self-styled "historians" of the Religious Right create a "useful past" that enlists the nation's founders on behalf of present-day conservative religious and political causes.
The result exposes the Religious Right "history" as fabrications and half-truths. In fact, one of the foundational principles of the Constitution is that of separation as the key to safeguarding freedom: separation of powers, separation of federal and state governments, and separation of church and state.