Protestantism has undergone a shift in its relationship with American culture and politics. This book analyzes and evaluates that shift. The author shows how Protestantism began in America as a vibrant civil religion and how it developed so that, by the 1970s, its relationship with American culture and politics had changed radically. He shows how Evangelical Protestantism came into being and remains resilient.

Hammond also discusses religious culture as it dealt with the courts—the separation of church and state, and the changing meaning of this doctrine.