One Key Fact About America’s Founding That Isn’t Taught Anymore | Eric Metaxas

American Thought Leaders

The Epoch Times

Government, News, Politics

4.9 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 30 May 2026

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Ahead of the 250th anniversary of America’s founding, New York Times bestselling author and talk show host Eric Metaxas is publishing his latest book, a 600-page volume titled “Revolution: The Birth of the Greatest Nation in the History of the World.”

In the book, he argues that the American Revolution is the “only genuine revolution in the history of so-called revolutions.”

So what separated the American Revolution from other revolutions? What made it succeed? And what critical aspects of the American Revolution are no longer being taught in schools today?

Metaxas argues that America is currently facing its third existential crisis, after the American Revolution and the Civil War, and understanding the core principles behind America’s founding story is critical to preserving the liberties of this nation.

In the interview, we confront some key questions: How is the erosion of spiritual faith transforming American society? How does self-government work without the “moral and religious people” that John Adams described as a prerequisite for self-government? What is the proper role of a good citizen?

Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

Transcript

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0:00.0	We've really been living at a time where people act as though you can get the liberties that we have had in America for 250 years
0:09.0	without reference to God. It's some kind of enlightenment, French Enlightenment project. That's simply not true.
0:16.0	Eric Metaxis is a prominent commentator, host, and author of several dozen books.
0:21.6	Unless we, the people actually govern ourselves, because we're moral, we're people of virtue,
0:26.6	it doesn't work. To be free, to govern ourselves, we have to govern ourselves.
0:31.6	His latest book is titled Revolution, The Birth of the Greatest Nation in the History of the World. There will always be people who don't give it done. So the question is, are there enough
0:41.9	people who actually believe in something to do something or not? I actually find quite a few
0:47.9	controversial things in your book. This is American Thought Leaders, and I'm Jania Kelek.
1:00.3	Eric Metaxus, such a pleasure to have you on American Thought Leaders.
1:01.5	My pleasure. Thank you.
1:04.9	Congratulations on the book Revolution.
1:14.4	Well, tell me, what would you say is the most controversial thing that finds itself in this book on the American Revolution? Well, I guess it depends how you want to phrase it. I would say that this may be
1:22.3	controversial, but it's absolutely unavoidable and inarguable, ultimately, not debatable, is that all of the founders,
1:33.3	most people don't seem to know this because there's been a real kind of secularist push
1:39.3	in our lifetimes, but all of the men of the revolution understood that this sacred cause,
1:48.4	as they called it, was inextricably intertwined with the God of the Bible. That's something
1:57.2	that I didn't really learn in school. You really hardly ever hear it in our culture now.
2:03.7	But when I did the research and I did a lot of research, I read a lot of books, it is absolutely
2:09.6	undebatable that that's how they saw it.
2:13.3	So even if we don't see it that way or somebody doesn't see it that way, you have to
2:16.9	acknowledge that they saw it that way and you have to understand why would that be.
2:22.3	And I think I've come to see it that way myself, but we've really been living at a time where
	...

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