One of the recurring themes of the Research on Religion podcast series is religious liberty — including the causes for, consequences of, and threats to such freedom.  Prof. Allen Hertzke — Presidential Professor of Political Science at the University of Oklahoma — joins us to give his overview of this topic based on his research conducted both in the United States and globally.    Prof. Hertzke recounts how his interest in religion and politics developed, and how he became increasingly involved in studying religious freedom on a global scale.  We talk about what impact academic scholarship might have on promoting religious freedom as well as offer some speculations as to why intellectual and policy elites have often been dismissive, or outright hostile, to this basic civil liberty.  We then dissect the importance of religious freedom examining it on the theoretical dimensions of equal worth, dignity, reason and community.  We then move on to some of the more empirical examples of how religious freedom has promoted positive developments in the world, and how and why we’ve seen some backtracking on its spread over the past decade.  Recorded: November 3, 2011.

RELATED LINKS

Prof. Allen Hertzke’s bio at the University of Oklahoma.

Freeing God’s Children: The Unlikely Alliance for Global Human Rights, by Allen Hertzke.

Representing God in Washington: The Role of Religious Lobbies in the American Polity, by Allen Hertzke.

Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.

John Templeton Foundation.

Institute for Global Engagement.

Echoes of Discontent: Jesse Jackson, Pat Robertson and the REsurgence of Populism, by Allen Hertzke.

“Septics, Sewers, and Secularization: How Government Flushes Religious Liberty Down the Drain,” a guiding paper by Anthony Gill mentioned on the podcast.

RELATED PODCASTS

Roger Finke on Religious Persecution.

Catherine Wanner on Religion in Russia.

Karrie Koesel on Religion & Politics in China.

Kevin Cooney on Religion and the Rule of Law in China.

Lan Chu on Catholicism in Vietnam.

Thomas Farr on Religion, Religious Liberty, and US Diplomacy.

Daniel Philpott on Religious Resurgence & Democratization.

Monica Toft on Religion, Terrorism, and Civil War.

Mark David Hall on Roger Sherman, Puritan Patriot.

John Fea on Religion & the American Founding.

Erik Stanley on Clergy and Free Speech.

Pastor Joe Fuiten on Clergy and Politics.

 

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3 Responses to “Allen Hertzke on Religious Liberty”

1. Research On Religion | Jason Jewell on John Locke & Religious Toleration says:

   December 5, 2011 at 4:04 am

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2. Research On Religion | Anthony Gill on the Political Origins of Religious Liberty says:

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