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Bill Moyers: The Church and State Debate Series

Lectures curated around Bill Moyers: The Church and State Debate on the controversial and constitutional issue of the separation of Church and State. The debate over the separation of Church and State stretches far beyond the political arena into our nation's hospitals, our bedrooms, our schools, and our scientific research facilities.

Related programs:

NPR: Roundtable: The Separation of Church and State
NPR: Closing the Gap Between Church and State
NPR: Meditating on the Church-State Divide
NPR: Church Meets State in the Oval Office
NPR: Church and State: 'Eternal Hostility'
NPR: John Danforth On Faith, Evangelicals and Politics
NPR: Romney Illustrates Growing Role of Faith in Politics
NPR: On Capitol Hill, Mixing Faith and Politics

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Failing America's Faithful: Faith and Politics

Kathleen Kennedy Townsend

Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, former Lt. Governor of Maryland and eldest daughter of Robert F.

Can God and Caesar Coexist?

Robert Drinan explores the challenges of balancing religious freedom with the rule of law, noting that the United Nations has never adopted a legally binding covenant guaranteeing freedom of religion.

Faith and Politics After the Religious Right

February 11, 2008

Jim Wallis, founder of Sojourners, discusses the end of the religious right's dominance in American politics and looks forward to new roles for faith in American society.

A panel discusses the ongoing national debates about allowing prayer in public schools and sporting the phrase "In God We Trust" on our currency, which indicate that Americans seem unable to agree about where to draw the line on prayer in the public realm.

Religion and Politics in America

October 23, 2006

Richard Cizik, Vice President of Government Affairs for the National Association of Evangelicals; retired senator John Danforth, author of Faith and Politics; and Barry Lynn, Executive Di

Left Hand of God: Responding to the Religious Right

Reb. Michael Lerner

February 9, 2006

Internationally renowned theologian Rabbi Michael Lerner examines the new roles that religion and faith play in American political life in his new book The Left Hand of God: Taking Back Our Country from the Religious Right.

Kevin Phillips: American Theocracy: Radical Religion, Oil, and Debt

Kevin Phillips takes an uncompromising view of the political coalition, led by radical religion, that is driving America to the brink of disaster.

God and Morality in the Public Sphere

February 20, 2006

Robert Drinan discusses religion and its place in politics and law. He is introduced by Justin Galacki '06, president of the College Democrats of Boston College.

Moral Center: Values, Politics and America's Future

October 3, 2006

Robert Kuttner moderates a panel discussion of some of today's most polarizing conflicts around family, sex, popular culture, crime and poverty and explores Callahan's ideas for escaping the dead-end culture wars and building a more unified America.

Chris Hedges: Who Are the American Fascists?

Christopher Hedges

February 14, 2007

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Chris Hedges explores the rise of the Christian right in America, drawing parallels with the rise of fascism in Europe prior to the Second World War. How does the vision of the United States as a Christian nation relate to our Bill of Rights?

Religious Violence and Religious Peacebuilding

R. Scott Appleby

R. Scott Appleby, director of the Institute for International Peace Studies at Notre Dame, explores how religion can encourage both militancy and peacemaking.

Terrorist Next Door: Militia Movement and Radical Right

Daniel Levitas discusses his new book The Terrorist Next Door. Georgia Perimeter College presents Levitas, writer of the The Terrorist Next Door: The Militia Movement and the Radical Right, which was nominated for both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award.

Measure of God: Can We Reconcile Science and Religion?

October 19, 2005

Journalist and author Larry Witham talks about the topics found in his book, The Measure of God: History's Greatest Minds Wrestle with Reconciling Science and Religion In this lecture, Witham explores the tension between science and religion that lies at the heart of contemporary debate

Alone or Together?: Justice of Faith in a Globalizing World

Paul L. Locatelli

February 2, 2006

Paul L. Locatelli discusses the role of faith in the increasingly global world. Locatelli is introduced by David McMenamin, adjunct associate professor in the philosophy department.

Faith and the Future of American Religion

R. Scott Appleby

November 4, 2003

Five journalists and scholars explore the changing landscape of American faith, using as a starting point two recent books: A People Adrift: The Crisis of the Catholic Church in America, by New York Times religion correspondent and former Commonwealth editor Peter Steinfels; and

Bush, Foreign Policy and Religion: European Perspective

Sylvia Poggioli

Sylvia Poggioli, NPR's senior European correspondent, engages in a conversation with WBUR's Dick Gordon on how Europeans perceive President Bush, US foreign policy, and the crisis in the American Catholic Church.

Alan Keyes on the Challenge of Gay Marriage

Alan Keyes, former US representative to the United Nations, and two-time candidate for the Republican nomination for president, offers an argument in opposition to gay marriage.

Courting Equality: America's First Legal Same-Sex Marriages

On November 18, 2003, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court granted equal marriage benefits to same-sex couples. The decision provoked a searing public debate over the meaning of marriage and family, civil rights, and the role of religion in law and society.

Laurence Tribe on the Invisible Constitution

September 25, 2008

Laurence Tribe discusses the evolution of how we interpret our country's most important document.