A week before Presidents’ Day, we visit with Gary Scott Smith of Grove City College to survey the religious beliefs of a dozen or so presidents including Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, both Roosevelts, JFK, Jimmy Carter, Barack Obama and a few others. Along the way we discuss why understanding the faith of our presidents is important, why most people do not know much about it, and how we go about studying the topic.

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Why are American Jews more liberal than their socio-economic non-Jewish counterparts?
Why are they more politically liberal than Jews in other countries? And what explains the rightward, then leftward, drift of Jews from the 1970s to present? Prof. Ken Wald provides an interesting historical explanation to these three puzzles. A great complimentary episode to last week’s discussion.

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David Brody, chief political correspondent for the Christian Broadcasting Network, shares his reflections on the 2010 midterm elections in the US. We discuss the role of evangelical Christians in the Tea Party movement, the impact that religion had on the campaigns of Christine O’Donnell and Sharron Angle, and the effect that the Ground Zero mosque may have played in the elections. Mr. Brody then discusses what it is like to be a Christian journalist in Washington, DC and a secular media world.

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Corwin Smidt (Calvin College and the Henry Institute) discusses the role that religion plays in national elections with a focus on the 2008 presidential campaign. We explore whether the “God gap” disappeared in the 2008 presidential contest and whether religion will play a role in the 2010 mid-term elections for Congress. (To download, right click on the download button and choose “save target as…”).

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Jay Hein of Baylor’s ISR and the Sagamore Institute talks about his tenure running the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives in the Bush Administration. Our discussion focuses on the history and workings of the Faith-Based Initiative, and the proper relationship between government and religious organizations.

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