Is Separation of Church and State a 'Fabrication'? Christian Nationalism Today
The newest move isn't to lower the wall but to deny it ever existed. The 'fabrication' claim, TPUSA Faith, the 'Seven Mountain' and 'biblical worldview' currents, and a Court that has traded Lemon for 'history and tradition.' The finale steelmans the accommodationist reply, then weighs the series' thesis — and ends on open questions.
2 Jul 2026
How Liberty University Became a Political Machine
Jerry Falwell built a movement — and something more durable: a university. Liberty's rise to the largest evangelical school on earth, its Helms School of Government, Falwell Jr.'s pivotal 2016 Trump endorsement, and the Falkirk Center he co-founded with Charlie Kirk. A machine and a node of power — with the sweeping pipeline claim weighed honestly.
1 Jul 2026
Alaska's Fight Over Public Money for Religious Schools
The live test case for the whole national fight. Alaska's ~$4,500 homeschool allotments flowing to private and religious schools, the litigation over the state constitution's 'direct benefit' ban, the 2024 ruling and the Alaska Supreme Court's reversal-and-remand that left it unresolved, and the St. Isidore 4-4 tie (2025).
1 Jul 2026
How Religious Schools Won Public Funding: Trinity Lutheran, Espinoza, Carson
In twenty years the Supreme Court flipped the rule on public money and religion — from 'no aid' to 'no exclusion.' Zelman, Trinity Lutheran, Espinoza, Carson v. Makin, and Kennedy. Vouchers, ESAs, and tax-credit scholarships; the Blaine reframing; and the strongest case on each side.
1 Jul 2026
Promise Keepers: The 1990s Movement That Filled Stadiums With Men
Hundreds of thousands of men packed stadiums to weep, pray, and make promises. Bill McCartney's Promise Keepers, the seven promises, the 1997 'Stand in the Gap' rally, and the swift collapse — plus critiques from the left and from within conservative Protestantism. How religious energy is raised and spent.
1 Jul 2026
Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, and the Rise of the Moral Majority
How scattered churchgoers became a voting bloc. Falwell's Moral Majority (1979), Robertson's CBN and 700 Club, and the issue-laddering — school prayer, the ERA, gay rights, and finally abortion as the durable glue. Carter's betrayal narrative and the consummation in Reagan 1980.
1 Jul 2026
How the IRS — Not Abortion — Sparked the Religious Right
Many historians argue the movement's real spark was the IRS moving against segregated Christian schools' tax exemptions. Green v. Connally, the 1978 rules, the Balmer-Weyrich thesis, and Bob Jones University v. United States (1983). A contested origin story, told fairly with both readings.
1 Jul 2026
How White Evangelicals Moved From Democrat to Republican
Not a single flip but a slow migration: Cold War anti-communism, the Democrats' embrace of civil rights and the 1948 Dixiecrat revolt, and Nixon's Southern Strategy. Billy Graham as a 'moral liaison' who gave permission for the shift — and we test the popular claim that he alone was the pivot.
1 Jul 2026
The Lemon Test: The Rule That Governed Church and State for 50 Years
One three-part test decided nearly every church-state case for half a century — then the Court buried it. Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971), its evolution through Marsh, Lynch, and the endorsement test, Scalia's 'ghoul' mockery, and its end in Kennedy v. Bremerton (2022). What replacing it with 'history and tradition' changes.
1 Jul 2026
How School Prayer Ended: Engel v. Vitale and Abington v. Schempp
In 1962 and 1963 the Supreme Court ended official prayer and devotional Bible reading in public schools — and lit a political fire that still burns. The backlash, Madalyn Murray O'Hair, the myth that the Court 'kicked God out of school,' and why many Americans felt dispossessed. The grievance the Religious Right would ride.
1 Jul 2026
How the First Amendment Came to Bind Every State: Cantwell and Everson
For 150 years the First Amendment restrained only Congress. Cantwell (1940) and Everson (1947) changed that — incorporating the religion clauses against the states, enshrining Jefferson's 'wall,' and, in the same breath, upholding bus aid to parochial students. A high wall in the rhetoric, a door in the result.
1 Jul 2026
When U.S. Public Schools Were Quietly Protestant — and Catholics Fought Back
State churches ended — and a Protestant culture took their place in the new public schools. Horace Mann's 'nonsectarian' Bible, Catholic pushback, the 1844 Philadelphia Bible Riots, the anti-Catholic Blaine Amendment, and Reynolds v. United States (1878). The 19th-century wall guarded a Protestant mainstream as much as it separated.
1 Jul 2026
How Jefferson and Madison Wrote Religious Freedom Into American Law
How a principle became policy: Patrick Henry's tax for 'teachers of the Christian religion,' Madison's Memorial and Remonstrance, Jefferson's Virginia Statute, Article VI's no-religious-test clause, the First Amendment, and the 1802 Danbury letter that gave us the 'wall of separation.' Includes the originalist counterargument.
1 Jul 2026
The Man Who Invented 'Separation of Church and State' — Before Jefferson
Long before Jefferson, a banished Puritan named Roger Williams argued for a 'wall of separation' — to protect the church from a corrupting world, not to keep faith out of public life. Colonial establishments, the punishment of dissenters, and the Great Awakening that cracked the old order. Where the American idea of separation begins.
Contact ReThink History: A Wall of Separation
Guest appearances
Does not typically book guests
Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.
Host of ReThink History: A Wall of Separation?
Claim your podcast to manage its listing and keep your show details accurate.
Pod Engine is an independent podcast discovery and analytics service and is not affiliated with or endorsed by this podcast. Artwork and show content belong to their owners. Full legal notice.
Explore this show Podcast research with Pod Engine
