Deuteronomy: most cited founding-era book
Of all founding-era political texts, the Book of Deuteronomy was cited most frequently because it addresses how to govern a nation under moral law.
Snapshot · The Ben Shapiro Show
Ep. 2455 - The Left REJECTS The Flag, The Bible… And AOC?!
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Jun 29, 2026
Where this was said
Religious Liberty, the Bible, and the Founding
At 16:50 · chapter starts 14:30
Trump's Religious Liberty Commission issued a draft report calling the 'separation of church and state' a legal error, and Shapiro agrees — at length. He walks through Thomas Jefferson's 1786 Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, John Adams's letter to the Massachusetts militia ('Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people'), and George Washington's and James Madison's views on religion undergirding republican government. The Establishment Clause, Shapiro argues, was meant to prevent Congress from mandating a single denomination — not to excise religion from civic life. He cites political scientist Donald Lutz's study of 15,000 founding-era political sources, which found the Bible was the single most-cited document, with Deuteronomy cited most frequently of all. Shapiro — himself Jewish — insists that not knowing the New Testament makes you illiterate by Western standards, pointing to references in Shakespeare, Dickens, Hugo, and Dostoevsky.
The Bible Is the Foundation of Western Literacy
Political scientist Donald Lutz catalogued 15,000 founding-era sources and found the Bible — not Locke, not Montesquieu — was the most-cited document, accounting for roughly a third of all citations. Deuteronomy topped the list because it answered the founding question: how do you govern a nation?
Bible: 1/3 of founding-era citations
Political scientist Donald Lutz catalogued 15,000 founding-era political sources and found the Bible was the single most-cited document, accounting for roughly a third of all citations.
What the Texas Bible Curriculum Actually Says
The Texas State Board of Education didn't mandate church attendance. It added David and Goliath, Adam and Eve, the parting of the Red Sea, the Psalms, and the Book of Job to the K-12 literary canon — alongside the Quran, Elie Wiesel, and Anne Frank. If you find that controversial, you don't understand what a civilization is.
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