The protection of religious freedom was a central concern of the framers of the Constitution of the United States and remains a central concern in American culture in the 1980s. John Semonche looks at the dichotomies that existed between the original framers of the Constitution and continued through succeeding years between left- and right-wing interests, and ways those dichotomies express themselves in the lives of Americans in the late twentieth century. Among those dichotomies are religious versus secular belief, and state versus federal government. Semonche states that the original primary purpose for the separation of church and state was to reduce conflict, and that the framers would be disturbed if they could see the amount of religion that exists in politics today.
At the time of this interview, Semonche was professor of American history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
This edition of Soundings was conducted by Wayne J. Pond.
