First, full disclosure. . . Stephen Mansfield is a dear friend. But that doesn’t mean I’m exaggerating when I say that his new book deserves the attention of every individual that cares about the future of our nation.

Ten Tortured Words: How the Founding Fathers Tried to Protect Religion in America . . . and What’s Happened Since is a calm, thoughtful, compelling examination of that section of the First Amendment commonly called “the establishment clause.” The one that says, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or restricting the free exercise thereof.”

Of course, every conservative knows that the words “separation of Church and State ” appear nowhere in the Constitution. And that the phrase actually appears only in a letter from Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury Baptist Assocation. But we can shout these fact until will hoarse (and many have) and it won’t move the debate for religious freedom in this country one inch.

That’s why this book is so important. What Ramesh Ponnuru gave us last year with his book The Party of Death: The Democrats, the Media, the Courts, and the Disregard for Human Life — the seminal, comprehensive, devastating guide to sanctity of human life issues in this century — Stephen has given us on the issue of separation of Church and State.

Get it. Read it. Share it with someone who needs some clarity on this issue.