History of Religious Freedom in the U.S. with Randall Balmer

Join us during America’s 250th while we uncover the long and fascinating history of religious freedom in the United States, considered by many to be one of its greatest innovations. How will a more complete understanding of this particular religious thread in the American tapestry make us more effective stewards of religion’s in perpetuating the American experiment in self-government?

Season 4, Episode 11 – History of Religious Freedom in the U.S. with Randall Balmer

Guest Bio

A prize-winning historian and Emmy Award nominee, Randall Balmer holds the John Phillips Chair in Religion at Dartmouth, the oldest endowed professorship at Dartmouth College. He taught as Professor of American Religious History at Columbia University for twenty-seven years before coming to Dartmouth in 2012.

Dr. Balmer has published more than a dozen books, including America’s Best Idea: The Separation of Church and State, Redeemer: The Life of Jimmy Carter, God in the White House: How Faith Shaped the Presidency from John F. Kennedy to George W. Bush, and The Making of Evangelicalism: From Revivalism to Politics and Beyond. His second book, Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory: A Journey into the Evangelical Subculture in America, now in its fifth edition, was made into an award-winning, three-part documentary for PBS. Dr. Balmer wrote and hosted that series as well as a two-part series on creationism and a documentary on Billy Graham. He has lectured around the country in such venues as the Commonwealth Club of California and the Chautauqua Institution and, under the auspices of the State Department, in Austria and Lebanon.

Show notes:

https://bookshop.org/p/books/america-s-best-idea-the-separation-of-church-and-state-randall-balmer/10c3765c6955cd65?ean=9781586424145&next=t

Podcast Support

Scholarly support provided by Dr. Lauren Turek, Associate Professor of History at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas.

Technical audio and video assistance provided by Dr. Randall Stephens, a Professor of American and British Studies at the University of Oslo.

Religion in the American Experience is a podcast of the private, digital-first National Museum of American Religion, which tells the story of how religion has shaped America and how America has shaped religion. This includes the establishment of religious freedom in the United States Constitution’s Article VI and Bill of Rights religion clauses.