Time: December 1, 2021 | 4:00-5:15pm
Location: Zoom | Register Here
Contemporary American discourse regarding the proper relation between religion and politics is increasingly incommensurate. How did we arrive at a place where our ideas are so divergent as to disclose dialog? I contend that our state of affairs has at least partially arisen from the ways in which generations of American adolescents were educated. Yet tracing this education historically poses several methodological questions. Can we measure what historical actors learned? What disciplines can shed light on how humans think of religion and politics? Can we diagnose the theological views of historical actors in the absence of confessional statements? This presentation examines these questions in the context of a study tracing the development of modern American religion clause jurisprudence and secondary civics curricula designed to introduce students to constitutional law.