Department of History

For those who know that in America, religion matters, and for those who wish it didn't matter so much, comes God In America, a sweeping history of how religious faith has shaped America. Interweaving documentary series from the award-winning producters of American Experience and Frontline is an in-depth exploration of the historical role of religion in the public life of the United States. Examining the complex interaction between religion and democracy, the origins of the uniquely American concept of religious liberty, and the controversial evolution of that ideal in the nation's political arena, God In America considers the role relgious ideas and institutions have played in social reform movements, and how guarantees of religious freedom created a competitive religious marketplace in America. The series explores its themes through a series of emblematic stories of the country's religious history, and the political and spiritual journeys of important historical figures, including the Pueblo leader Po'pay, Puritan leader John Wintrop and dissident Anne Hutchinson, early evangelist George Whitfield, Catholic Bishop John Hughes, abolitionist Frederick Douglass, Presidents Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln, Methodist circuit rider James Finley, Reform Rabbi Isaac Meyer Wise, Presbyterian biblical scholar Charles Briggs, Scopes trial combatants William Jennings Bryan and Clarence Darrow, evangelist Billy Graham, civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Moral Majority's Jerry Falwell.