Will post a practice final this week.
Adjourn at noon for student experience survey
Considering the separation of church and state, how is a president justified in using the word "God" at all? The answer is that the separation of church and state has not denied the political realm a religious dimension. Although matters of personal religious belief, worship, and association are considered to be strictly private affairs, there are, at the same time, certain common elements of religious orientation that the great majority of Americans share. These have played a crucial role in the development of American institutions and still provide a religious dimension for the whole fabric of American life, including the political sphere. This public religious dimension is expressed in a set of beliefs, symbols, and rituals that I am calling American civil religion. The inauguration of a president is an important ceremonial event in this religion. It reaffirms, among other things, the religious legitimation of the highest political authority.
JFK:
Solemn oath
JFK quoted the Protestant King James Bible, not the Catholic Confraternity Douay Bible. Protestant Ted Sorensen actually wrote the speech.
See his 1960 speech to the Houston Ministerial Association (start about one minute in):
- Winthrop's "City on a Hill" (New Testament verse)
- The Liberty Bell: "Proclaim Liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof" (Leviticus 25:10)
- 1777 Thanksgiving Proclamation
SCOTUS
- Supeme Court door and a problematic frieze
Trends in religion
Immigration:
Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 (JFK supported, LBJ saw it become law)
Immigration trends (Mo is a CMC alum)
War
Disability:
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