How Fundamental is Religion to the American Character?
The first freedom that is mentioned in America’s bill of rights is the freedom of religion: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Clearly, the preservation of some sort of religious liberty was of the utmost importance to America’s founders. But the nature of that religious freedom has been contested throughout American history. Our current moment is, arguably, one of the hottest points of this contestation. What is it that the American founders were trying to protect? How important is it that we share their concern today when America is a much more religiously diverse place and when many Americans identify as non-religious?
In this three-session sequence, we will examine and challenge the idea that religion is a fundamental part of the American character that must be protected for the good of the country. Our guides will be three outstanding essayists who draw on a deep reservoir of knowledge of political philosophy and the American founding to present ideas that are relevant to our social and political conditions today.
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Irving Kristol, “The Spirit of ’87”
Series: Religion in America | Click here to read the essay
Wilfred McClay, “The Soul of a Nation”
Series: Religion in America | Click here to read the essay
Yuval Levin, “The Perils of Religious Liberty”
Series: Jews and Religious Liberty | Click here to read the essay
Yuval Levin
National Affairs
Yuval Levin is the director of Social, Cultural, and Constitutional Studies at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI). He also holds the Beth and Ravenel Curry Chair in Public Policy. The founding and current editor of National Affairs, he is also a senior editor of The New Atlantis and a contributing editor to National Review.
Dr. Levin and scholars in the Social, Cultural, and Constitutional Studies research division study the foundations of self-government and the future of law, regulation, and constitutionalism. They also explore the state of American social, political, and civic life, while focusing on the preconditions necessary for family, community, and country to flourish.
Dr. Levin served as a member of the White House domestic policy staff under President George W. Bush. He was also executive director of the President’s Council on Bioethics and a congressional staffer at the member, committee, and leadership levels.
In addition to being interviewed frequently on radio and television, Dr. Levin has published essays and articles in numerous publications, including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and Commentary. He is the author of several books on political theory and public policy, most recently “A Time to Build: From Family and Community to Congress and the Campus, How Recommitting to Our Institutions Can Revive the American Dream” (Basic Books).
He holds an MA and PhD from the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago.
Dr. Samuel Goldman
Associate Professor of Political Science at George Washington University
Samuel Goldman is an associate professor of political science at George Washington University, where he is also executive director of the John L. Loeb, Jr. Institute for Religious Freedom and director of the Politics & Values Program. His first book God’s Country: Christian Zionism in America was published by the University of Pennsylvania Press in 2018. His next book, After Nationalism was published in Spring 2021. Goldman received his Ph.D. from Harvard, and taught at Harvard and Princeton before coming to GW. In addition to his academic work, Goldman is a national correspondent at The Week and a contributing editor at The American Conservative. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and many other publications.
Alan Rubenstein
Alan Rubenstein was educated in Liberal Arts at St. John’s College in Annapolis, MD, and also at Georgetown University. He was a senior consultant for the President’s Council on Bioethics and currently serves as Hanson Scholar of Ethics at Carleton College in Northfield, MN. At Carleton, he teaches ethical thought through close reading of great literature of the West—in particular, Plato, the Hebrew Bible, and Shakespeare. He is currently Director of University Programs for the Tikvah Fund. His published essays have focused on the philosopher Hans Jonas, the Hebrew Bible, and Judaism in middle America. He is married and a father of three children.
