If you love long words like antidisestablishmentarianism and are looking for a deep dive into history, then this episode is for you. Jonathan is a professor at Samford University who specializes in the founding era of American history. He joins Kevin to talk about the 50 years process by which the American states ended their church establishments. Find out how it happened, why it happened, and why it did not happen (hint: it wasn’t because secularism was winning out over Christianity).

Timestamps:

0:00 Intro and Sponsor

1:09 Guest: Jonathan Den Hartog

4:56 Religion and Disestablishment in the American States

13:49 Secularism or Religious Liberty?

39:39 Presbyterian Perspectives

44:58 Freed from Worldly Cares

49:04 Liberal Religion in Massachusetts

54:11 "Doing History" 

Books:

Disestablishment and Religious Dissent: Church-State Relations in the New American States 

Come, Lord Jesus: Meditations on the Second Coming of Christ