Edwards, Whitfield, The Great Awakening and later, the Wesley brothers are all very important to the history of this nation. Too long we, as a nation, have seen "Establishment" clause as a "seperation" clause and the seperation idea as complete and utter divorcement of church and state when religious ideation and behavior has had so much to do with the founding of this country. Without making any value judgements beyond the obvious, such events as the Great Awakening and circuit riding, tent meetings (which passed in its day as the sole source of entertainment for most folks) and the like had a profound effect in the development and direction(s) we took. It is history and it ought to be studied.

All of history demonstrates an integral connection between the religion of the people and their government. It defines purpose and intent, future outlook, what is tolerable and what is not. It influences architechture, art, exchange media, progress, motivators, etc. One cannot truly say they understand history until they also understand the religion of the people they study. And as a tool for both good and evil we ignore it at our peril.