The importance of separation of government and #religion in American life which insures a #secular government, #religiousfreedom for all including #atheist.

Dr. Balmer discusses of two of his books, Solemn Reverence: The separation of Church and State in American Life and #BadFaith - Race and the Rise of the Religious Right. He discusses #RogerWilliams - founder of #Baptist tradition in America. He explains his own involvement in the Alabama 10 commandments case. He speaks about #WilliamPenn and the #TreatyofTripoli. He explains how there have many many attempts to designate US as a #ChristianNation. He explains the danger of the #MontanaDecision. And gives a history of the #beginnings of the religious right including #RonaldReagan's role in the rise of the religious right. He is asked about his personal journey from evangelicalism to becoming an Episcopalian. He gives an introduction to his latest book Bad Faith.

He goes over his experience at a 1990 Conference which was a celebration of Ronald Reagans election, with the Who's Who of the religious right, #EdDobson, #RalphReed, #ChristianCoalition, #moralmajority, #AmericanFamilyAssociation, #SouthernBaptistConvention, #PaulWeyrich with the #HeritageFoundation who stated "we didn't get involved in response to abortion, we got involved in politics in defense of tax exemption of evangelical institutions including #BobJonesUniversity". This event led Dr. Balmer on a quest to study the origins of the religious right, his findings included abolishing the #abortion myth. In 1968 - flagship magazine #ChristianityToday met with the Christian Medical Society to discuss abortion and issued a statement that abortions should be allowed. The #SouthernBaptistConvention in 1971, called for legalization of abortion. Rev. #Criswell - on #RoeVwade - applauded the decision. Dobson stated in 1973, the bible is silent on the matter of #abortion, not to worry about fate of the fetus. #Falwell - did not preach first anti-abortion sermon until 1978.

What really happened - movement that galvanized in defense of racial segregation in placed like #BobJonesUniversity. evangelical support for #DonaldTrump

Biography Dr. Balmer is a prize-winning historian and Emmy Award nominee, he holds the John Phillips Chair in Religion at Dartmouth, the oldest endowed professorship at Dartmouth College. He earned the Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1985 and taught as Professor of American Religious History at Columbia University before coming to Dartmouth in 2012. He has been a visiting professor at many prestigious universities. Dr. Balmer has published widely in both scholarly journals and in the popular press. He is regularly asked to comment on religion in American life, and he has appeared frequently on network television, on NPR, and on both the Colbert Report and the Daily Show, with Jon Stewart. He has been an expert witness in several First Amendment cases, including Snyder v. Phelps and Glassroth v. Moore, the so-called Alabama Ten Commandments case.

Dr. Balmer has published more than a dozen books. His second book, Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory: A Journey into the Evangelical Subculture in America, 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.

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