Today most Americans associate religious liberty either with the Constitution’s establishment clause (prohibiting the creation of an official religion or church) or with the notion of separation of church and state. At the time of the founding, however, American Jews saw the clause proscribing the use of any religious test for holding federal office as the truest guarantee of their freedom, and of their equality with their Gentile neighbors. Senator Mike Lee, Rabbi Meir Soloveichik, and Jonathan Silver discuss this history, and what it means for the future of religious liberty and religious life in the United States. (Moderated by Adam White. Video, 77 minutes.)
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