America at 250 years: The Role of Religion Then – and Now

Academic and popular authors regularly assert that America’s founders were deists who created a godless Constitution and desired the strict separation of church and state. Professor Hall explains how and why these claims are false and shows that the founders’ Christian commitments led them to embrace a robust understanding of religious liberty for all citizens. As well, he shows that throughout American history Christians, motivated by their faith, have advocated for greater liberty and equality for all. Although some self-identified Christian nationalists today reject the founders’ commitment to religious freedom, Hall demonstrates that their numbers are miniscule and that they do not pose an existential threat to American democracy. Nevertheless, thoughtful Christians should clearly repudiate their unchristian and illiberal ideas. 

This talk took place during Faith and Law’s 2024 Leadership Conference.

Dr. Mark David Hall is a Professor in Regent University’s Robertson School of Government, Director of Religious Liberty in the States, and a Senior Fellow at the Center for Religion, Culture & Democracy. He is also Distinguished Scholar of Christianity & Public Life at George Fox University and a Senior Fellow at the Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University. He has written, edited, or co-edited fifteen books, the most recent of which is Who’s Afraid of Christian Nationalism?: Why Christian Nationalism is Not an Existential Threat to America or the Church. Dr. Hall received his PhD in government from the University of Virginia.