The Faith Of The Presidents

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Inspired

Inspired is the nation's leading public radio show about faith, ethics and spirituality. Each week we offer you analyses of the big headlines alongside lesser-told stories – those of Orthodox Jewish artists and African-American atheists, Muslim feminists and spiritual seekers. Through these stories, a rough sketch of our country’s religious landscape begins to emerge. It’s a marketplace of beliefs and ideas too complex for sound bites, and too important to ignore.

This week on Interfaith Voices:

Untraditional Christians: The Beliefs of the Founding Fathers

Though the Founding Fathers were Christian, many of them held beliefs out of step with most American Christians of their time – and ours. We asked Catherine Brekus, professor of the history of religion at Harvard Divinity School, to describe the faith of the presidents in the early years of the republic. She talks about their beliefs in Deism, their stand against a religious establishment, and the limits of their willingness to extend religious freedom to all.

Catherine Brekus, Charles Warren Professor of the History of Religion in America at Harvard Divinity School 

 

Presidental Religion in the Civil War and The Age of Imperialism

Though both Union and Confederate leaders invoked God to advance their causes during the Civil War. But Abraham Lincoln refused to claim the divine on his side. Heather Curtis, a professor of religion at Tufts University, explains Lincoln’s approach to faith, and why he didn’t join a church. She also delves into the religious roots of William McKinley’s assertive foreign policy, and Woodrow Wilson’s leadership during World War I and his founding of the League of Nations.

Heather Curtis, department chair and associate professor of religion at Tufts University and author of Holy Humanitarians American: Evangelicals and Global Aid

 

Jefferson’s Quran

As a law student, Thomas Jefferson bought a Quran from an English publisher. But why? Did he read it as a sacred text? As a window into Muslim law? Denise Spellberg, professor of history at the University of Texas at Austin explains the likely reasons for Jefferson’s purchase, which is now in the Library of Congress, and how he and his contemporaries thought about Muslims.

Denise Spellberg, author of Thomas Jefferson’s Quran: Islam and the Founders
 

 

 

 

 

 
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