Christian Nationalism and the First Amendment: A Lesson in Civics
The 2024 presidential election has brought the issue of Christian nationalism—the notion that the United States is and always has been a Christian nation—into focus. The founders, however, were very clear that religion and politics should be separated, and the First Amendment, America’s best idea, has worked remarkably well throughout our history. As Sandra Day O’Connor, associate justice of the Supreme Court, said, “Those who would renegotiate the boundaries between church and state must answer a difficult question: Why would we trade a system that has served us so well for one that has served others so poorly?”
This program will feature a pre-recorded video of Professor Randall Balmer's presentation and a moderated panel discussion afterwards with Professor Andrew Moore, and will run 75-90 minutes.
Randall Balmer, the John Phillips Professor in Religion at Dartmouth College, is the author of more than a dozen books on religion in American history, including “Solemn Reverence: The Separation of Church and State in American Life” and “Redeemer: The Life of Jimmy Carter.” He is a columnist for the Valley News and the Concord Monitor, and his commentaries appear in the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, the Des Moines Register and the Santa Fe New Mexican, among other newspapers.
Andrew S. Moore is Professor of History at Saint Anselm College. He is the author of "The South’s Tolerable Alien: Roman Catholics in Alabama and Georgia, 1945-1970" and the editor of "Evangelicals and Presidential Politics: From Jimmy Carter to Donald Trump."
