Episode 5: Religion and the Constitution

Podcast Host John Ericson interviews Author Tony Williams on the role of religion in the Constitution. This episode focuses on Article VI, which prevents religious tests for holding public office, and the 1st Amendment, which guarantees that the federal government will not establish religion or interfere in the free exercise of religion. Williams expounds on the challenges that continue to test us and how Religious Freedom is still an evolving idea. What does the Constitution say about public religious displays? Prayer in public schools? What are the origins of the separation of Church and State? What other contentious issues do we continue to wrestle with in our time? 

Tony Williams is a Senior Fellow at the Bill of Rights Institute in Arlington, Virginia and the author of six books including Washington and Hamilton: The Alliance that Forged America, with co-author Stephen Knott, and Hamilton: An American Biography. Williams has degrees from Ohio State University and Syracuse University. 

Intro and outro created by Thomas Fosdick. Project supported by a grant from Virginia Humanities.