We The People

Religious Liberty at the Founding

January 05, 2023

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In this episode, Professor Vincent Phillip Muñoz of Notre Dame Law discusses his newest book, Religious Liberty and the American Founding: Natural Rights and the Original Meanings of the First Amendment Religion Clauses. He is joined by Professor Michael McConnell of Stanford Law School to discuss the book, what freedom of religion meant at the founding, and what it means today. They also evaluate the reasoning behind some of the Supreme Court’s major religion decisions and how they comport with history and the founders’ understandings of religious liberty. Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, moderates.

 

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This episode was produced by Lana Ulrich and Bill Pollock. It was engineered by Bill Pollock and Kevin Kilbourne. Research was provided by Liam Kerr, Emily Campbell, and Lana Ulrich. 

 

Participants

Vincent Phillip Muñoz is the Tocqueville Associate Professor of Political Science and Concurrent Associate Professor of Law at the University of Notre Dame. He is the founding director of Notre Dame’s Center for Citizenship & Constitutional Government. His most recent book is Religious Liberty and the American Founding: Natural Rights and the Original Meanings of the First Amendment Religion Clauses.

Michael McConnell is the Richard and Frances Mallery Professor and director of the Constitutional Law Center at Stanford Law School, as well as a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution. He served as a circuit judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit. His upcoming book, co-authored with Nathan Chapman, is Agreeing to Disagree: How the Establishment Clause Protects Religious Diversity and Freedom of Conscience, will be published by Oxford University Press in 2023.

Jeffrey Rosen is the president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, a nonpartisan nonprofit organization devoted to educating the public about the U.S. Constitution. Rosen is also professor of law at The George Washington University Law School and a contributing editor of The Atlantic.


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TRANSCRIPT

This transcript may not be in its final form, accuracy may vary, and it may be updated or revised in the future.

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