Please . . . the Forefathers could barely get over their own religious differences, and they were all mainline Protestants. It's obvious you have a rose-colored glasses view of history.You keep on quoting Adams, but he was a Puritan---one of the last of a dying breed. Franklin was a total libertine, and Jefferson, I believe, was a Deist. I'm sure each would have problems with what the others felt was true "morality."
Like I wrote, the grand, sweeping themes are one thing: the Devil is in the details.
My point about the church's function being the moral voice in society's mind is only part of its job; the part that relates to society and the civil authority.
Well, that's certainly the "part" we're discussing in this thread, is it not? The part you claimed has a direct relationship with our government? For the purposes of this thread, I could care less about any other part a church plays in the life of its members. Let's stick to the subject at hand, shall we?
that’s another function of the church that many inside the church seem to have forgotten.
Which makes those churches seem irrelevant to those in need of the gospel because there is nothing positive that differentiates them from the secular organizations.