Football coach Joe Kennedy leading players in prayer in 2015. Video screen grab, via Religion News Service (2022).

Click here to watch the stream

In September, 2015, officials of the Bremerton, Washington, School District ordered an assistant football coach, Joseph Kennedy, to cease his practice of leading students in post-game Christian prayers on-field, and in other settings on school grounds. Kennedy persisted. He was fired. He sued.

The case of Kennedy v. Bremerton School District was finally resolved last June, with a landmark ruling issued by the U.S. Supreme Court. By a vote of 6-3, the Court’s ascendant conservative majority ruled for Coach Kennedy, holding that the government may not curtail an individual’s “private religious exercise,” even when the individual was acting, as in this case, in an official capacity and on public facilities.

The ruling overturned a half-century-old precedent, the 1971 case Lemon v. Kurtzman. The Lemon case established guidelines that constrained officials and employees of state institutions from advocating for religious beliefs while in their official roles.

The shift from Lemon to Kennedy parallels an effort by Christian thinkers to change how the public and the legal community understand how the Constitution regulates the role of religion in public life.

In previously established case law and public understanding, religion is something of a private matter. Religious observance takes place in the home; in churches, mosques, synagogues, and other religious buildings; and in solo or group ceremony people that join voluntarily. The public realm — government facilities certainly, but also stores, professional offices, non-religious schools — are treated as religiously ‘neutral territory’. A public religious observance sufficiently aggressive to entrain people who didn’t choose to be there was widely deemed ill-mannered, if not actually illegal. This was the cultural and legal balance that traditionally has underpinned the concept of “freedom of religion”, as understood and practiced in the U.S.

The Kennedy ruling marks a watershed in a movement to change this way of thinking, not just in law, but in culture. In this new ethos, as a person of faith, you bring your faith with you throughout all aspects of your life. If your faith is central to your identity, then asking you to set it aside when you enter the public realm is a kind of assault on your personhood. Asking you to leave behind your religious concerns or suppress your religious expression when you enter the public arena is deemed an infringement on your rights of free speech.

The advocates of this view claim that are arguing for “religious freedom” or “religious liberty”.1 The concept entails breaking down what Thomas Jefferson termed the “wall of separation” between church and state. The public sphere — shops, schools, offices, government buildings, public parks — would become environments in which religious observance, by individuals and groups, would be welcome. In this sense, the very division between the public and private spheres would be substantially weakened.

What’s going on here? What is the difference between “freedom of religion”, as understood traditionally, with this different concept of “religious liberty”? How did we get to this point — intellectually, legally, and culturally? How will our society change if this new thinking becomes dominant? Is that the kind of society we want?

And if not, what can we do about it?

Please join us this Saturday, June 3, at 10:00 a.m. US Eastern Time as we work to understand this new challenging push to expand the role of religion in American public life. As usual, I’ll be joined by my co-hosts, philosophers Peter Lupu and Pini Ben-Or. Please join us.

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Sources:

https://religionnews.com/2022/04/06/can-a-public-high-school-coach-pray-publicly-on-the-job/

https://www.vox.com/2022/6/27/23184848/supreme-court-kennedy-bremerton-school-football-coach-prayer-neil-gorsuch

https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/21-418_i425.pdf

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kennedy_v._Bremerton_School_District

Secular liberal democracy is underpinned by the concept of autonomy — the notion that human beings can and should choose their own paths for themselves, guided by their own facilities, including their own reason. To have autonomy means, in short, that you steer your own ship, for yourself, and live with the consequences that follow. If you don’t have autonomy, then someone or something else must take the important life decisions for you.

Keller argued that autonomy was illusory. As summarized by Molly Worthen in The Atlantic:

Over the years, Keller became not just a Christian apologist but a sophisticated critic of secular liberalism, especially its worship of personal autonomy as the highest good…

Secular Americans in the 21st century might think that they are free individuals, living true to themselves—but in fact they have unconsciously absorbed the preferences and prejudices of their particular cultural setting, he wrote in what may be his most important book, 2016’s Making Sense of God. All humans, in all historical contexts, “use some kind of filter—a set of beliefs and values—to sift through our hearts and determine which emotions and sensibilities we will value and incorporate into our core identity and which we will not. It is this value-laden filter that forms our identity, rather than our feelings themselves.”

Keller was part of a movement by Christian intellectuals to attack personal autonomy as a concept. Charles Taylor, author of A Secular Age, was another member of this school. These and others argued that a political order need not, in fact should not respect the autonomy of individuals. Instead, all that was necessary was for the state to respect individuals’ ‘dignity’.

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The difference between ‘autonomy’ and ‘dignity’ essentially boils down, in this context, to the question: Who calls the shots? Will you make the big life choices for yourself? Or will some other agency choose or constrain your choices for you — no doubt, with your ‘dignity’ kept in mind?

This question may appear abstract, even dry. But the stakes are monumental. Destroying the belief in personal autonomy as a high (if not quite the highest) good is central to the authoritarian project. Christian Nationalism in particular rests on a claim that someone or something other than you knows what is best for you, better than you know for yourself. It people can be convinced that autonomy is bad, or fake, then the way towards authoritarianism is opened.

Please join us this Saturday, May 27, at 10:00 a.m. US Eastern Time as we dive into this little-noticed but very high stakes debate about personal autonomy.

Ukraine's New Social Covenant: A 4-part series

Part II: Decolonizing Ukrainian Language and Culture

April 29, 2023, 10:00 a.m. US Eastern Time

Refounding Democracy is a sustained examination of the current authoritarian assault on liberal democracy in the US and worldwide, through the lenses of political philosophy, history, and economics. A central theme is the concept of a social covenant -- the compact, both secular and spiritual, that articulates the commitments members of a polity make to one another, and that thereby binds a nation together.

In a time of crisis, a nation's social covenant can evolve rapidly. Nowhere today shows this process unfolding more vividly than in Ukraine. As the Ukrainian people organize themselves to defend democracy and repel Russia's brutal invasion, a new nation is emerging.

Refounding Democracy is pleased to host a four-part series in which we examine this evolution. Streaming live from Ukraine, co-hosts Athena Small and Peter Lupu are joined by a range of Ukrainian voices to discuss what happening, what it means for Ukraine's future, and what lessons it implies for democracy in the U.S. and worldwide.

The series examines these changes from four directions:

April 22, Kyiv: Civil society & volunteerism in Ukraine

April 29, Kyiv: Culture - decolonizing the mindset, shifting to Ukrainian language

May 6, Kyiv: Ukraine’s education system

May 13, Lviv: Sex, Gender, and LGBT in the Ukrainian Social Covenant

Part II: Decolonizing Ukrainian Language and Culture

Russia's assault on Ukraine has triggered a seismic reaction in Ukraine's culture. Especially since the full-scale invasion starting February 24, 2022, Ukrainians have widely rejected everything Russian, including Russian language and literature. Many Ukrainians, even those who grew up speaking Russian as their native language and revering Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy, are pivoting away, towards Ukrainian language, literature, and culture. Many are taking a critical look at their own educational upbringing, arguing that Ukraine needs to 'decolonize' its own culture, to free itself from Russian influences and attitudes.

Should culture be kept separate from politics and war? Can it be? When Putin makes war, how should we deal with Pushkin?

Refounding Democracy is pleased to be joined by three guests with deep expertise in what's happening in the ferment of literary culture in Ukraine today.

OLHA POLIUKHOVYCH, PhD, is a literary critic & scholar, writer, and Associate Professor in the Department of Literature of the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. Her work has been featured on LitHub, Literary Life, BBC, Silicon Curtain podcasts, Los Angeles Review of Books, Agni, Consequence forum, Arrowsmith journal, and Prospect Magazine.

MARIIA SHUVALOVA is a Kyiv based literary scholar and translator. She teaches at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy and works as an Acquisition Editor of the Ukrainian Language Open Access Series at Academic Studies Press (Boston, MA). Mariia was a Fulbright Scholar at the Harriman Institute, Columbia University (2019-2020).

In 2020, Dr. Poliukhovych and Ms. Shuvalova co-founded the New Ukrainian Academic Community (Kyiv), a nongovernmental organization focusing on popularization of Ukrainian literature and culture.

MARIA KOVALCHUK is currently a doctoral student and instructor at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, and a member of the research staff at the German-Ukrainian Historical Commission in Munich. She served previously as International Project Manager at the Ukrainian Book Institute, and as Managing Editor at the Smoloskyp Publishing House.

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Host: Athena Small, Lecturer, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, University of Virginia, USA

Co-host: Peter Lupu, Chair, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Glendale Community College, Glendale, Arizona, USA

Ukraine's New Social Covenant: A 4-part series

Part I: Civil Society and Volunteerism in Ukraine

April 22, 2023, 10:00 a.m. US Eastern Time

Refounding Democracy is a sustained examination of the current authoritarian assault on liberal democracy in the US and worldwide, through the lenses of political philosophy, history, and economics. A central theme is the concept of a social covenant -- the compact, both secular and spiritual, that articulates the commitments members of a polity make to one another, and that thereby binds a nation together.

In a time of crisis, a nation's social covenant can evolve rapidly. Nowhere today shows this process unfolding more vividly than in Ukraine. As the Ukrainian people organize themselves to defend democracy and repel Russia's brutal invasion, a new nation is emerging.

Refounding Democracy is pleased to host a four-part series in which we examine this evolution. Streaming live from Ukraine, co-hosts Athena Small and Peter Lupu are joined by a range of Ukrainian voices to discuss what happening, what it means for Ukraine's future, and what lessons it implies for democracy in the U.S. and worldwide.

The series will examine these changes from four directions:

April 22, Kyiv: Civil society & volunteerism in Ukraine

April 29, Kyiv: Culture - decolonizing the mindset, shifting to Ukrainian language

May 6, Kyiv: Ukraine’s education system

May 13, Lviv: Sex, Gender, and LGBT in the Ukrainian Social Covenant

Part I: Civil society & volunteerism in Ukraine

From the first hours of Russia's invasion on February 24, Ukrainians pulled together in an heroic effort to confront the invasion from a large aggressive neighbor intent on decapitating its government and installing a puppet region. Volunteers defended the capital, evacuated the frail, fed the hungry. These efforts continue to this day, engaging both formal non-governmental organizations and the most grassroots efforts involving neighbors helping neighbors.

In this live stream, we dive in to consider what this spirit of volunteerism tells us about Ukraine's social covenant, how this spirit has changed, and what these changes bode for the nation's future.

• How readily do Ukrainians come together spontaneously to provide mutual aid, or to address problems in the public space?

• Is there a distinctively ‘Ukrainian style’ of volunteerism or of civil engagement?

• How robust is civil society in Ukraine?

• What are the historical, cultural roots of civil society in Ukraine?

• How has Ukrainian civil society, and attitudes and practices towards volunteerism, changed since Independence (1991)? Since the Revolution of Dignity (2013-2014)? Since the full-scale invasion by Russia (Feb 24, 2022)?

• How will these processes will shape Ukrainian society, politics, and the course of the war?

• How will these processes will unfold in the future? How they will affect Ukraine’s engagement with the European Union and the West more generally?

Along the way, we look at innovative volunteer activities happening now in Ukraine.

We end by examining what lessons Ukraine's experience hold for the U.S..

Host: Athena Small, Lecturer, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, University of Virginia, USA

Co-host: Peter Lupu, Chair, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Glendale Community College, Glendale, Arizona, USA

Christian nationalism is a creed that seeks to align national identity and state power with Christian religious beliefs and authority. In the context of the United States, Christian nationalism is the creed that the U.S. was founded as a “Christian nation”: that American and Christian identities are, have always been, and always should always be, one and the same. This ideology has widespread support in the U.S., especially among conservative evangelical Christians aligned with the Republican Party. It is the foundation of the Dominionist project, which advocates and works for the goal of placing committed Christians in control over government, law, media, and other key sectors of America’s economy and society.

In this conversation, Athena Small and Peter Lupu discuss the ideas behind Christian nationalism, and their current political status. They examine the history and current status of the Dominionist political project, and consider whether and how Christian nationalism is compatible with the nature and character of our Constitutional democratic republic.

Spoilers: Peter Lupu argues that the fusion of Christian ideology and national identity have profound consequences for the nature and character of our nation. He holds that Christian Nationalism is antithetical to the spirit and letter of the Constitution; that it contradicts the Covenantal ideals embedded therein; that it aims to demolish the inherent ethnic, religious, cultural, and ideological diversity of America; and that it is an assault on the historical trajectory of American society to gradually expand rights to more and more traditionally marginalized communities. Christian Nationalism, in short, combines the worst sentiments of Christian domination and Nationalist zeal.

The insurrection on January 6, 2021, looked a lot like a rally for a favorite team. Many people treat view their ties to their nation this way. A sports team can command loyalty, and connection with others. But you cannot build a good society of free people on such a basis.

Peter discusses how his naturalization as a U.S. citizen changed his very identity: after swearing the oath or citizenship, he felt newly responsible for the U.S., and its Constitution. Peter and Athena envision a comparable ceremony for native-born citizens: a secular coming-of-age ceremony, analogous to a bar/bat-mitzvah or Confirmation, that would bring young adults into the covenant of citizenship, and its obligations.

Welcome!

This project is dedicated to restoring our democracy. We can all see and feel that democracy is under assault, both in the U.S. and around the world. Here we are working to not just point out problems, but also to craft solutions. By exploring ideas, building community, and having fun, we strive to craft a better vision of what democracy should look like in the 21st Century.

In this video, recorded on October 29, 2022, we take a closer look at the authoritarian challenge confronting liberal democracy in the U.S. and abroad. In the U.S., a frighteningly large share of the people appear to have abandoned a core commitment of democracy: the willingness to lose a free and fair election. Internationally, in many countries "strong man" governments have substantially replaced what were once thriving democracies. How do we understand the causes of these threats? How do we respond?

In this video we begin shaping a central argument we will make throughout the series: that our shared values and commitments are more fundamental to our democratic society than our agreements on the mechanism of power; and that these shared value commitments, organized into a statement of our *social covenant*, should guide us when the plain text of the Constitution does not. The concept of a social covenant will be central to our strategy for revitalizing democracy for the 21st Century.