Religion and the Founding of the United States

3 credits · Graduate School

Was the United States founded as a Christian nation? This question has never been more urgent than it is today. Opposing views on this question have clashed, and questions about religion and national identity continue to circulate. This course examines this and other questions as it explores the place of religion in the revolutionary era and the early republic of the U.S. The course will engage various important themes, including: the place of religion in debates over slavery, abolition, and revolutionary ideas of liberty; revolutionary-era women's leadership (including preaching); the influence of religious activism and ideas on political views; religion and violence; just war theory and pacifism; religious views of the founders; religion and the Constitution and its ratification; Deism; the Enlightenment; and the influence of the Bible on the American Revolution and the nation's founding. [3] Mr. Byrd