Blog #10: Unit 25 on Religion and Politics

Welcome to our last class of the semester. Today’s podcast combines two substantive issues: (1) the mixing of religion and politics; and (2) the substance of religious influence in public education. We’ve talked extensively about funding questions related to the latter, but today we look more at the content.

We’ll cover a lot of ground in a short amount of time, and my goal today is to leave you with a lot of questions to think through on your own. For purposes of the exam, you’ll want to be familiar with the basic contours of these cases and issues, but you will not need to work through the larger theoretical questions that I raise in the podcast.

Your readings include one of President Trump’s executive orders that touches on some of the questions we’ll address today. Aside from some occasional efforts around “Pulpit Freedom Sunday,” the Johnson Amendment was largely irrelevant prior to the 2015 presidential campaign. It became a major issue for Trump’s most prominent evangelical supporters.

Today’s podcast is below, and thanks for a great semester.