Fall Adult Forum Begins September 27

For a country without a national church, religion occupies a space at the heart of the American government and people. The purported separation of church and state in America is an idea that is bound up in the lives of the religious and secular, Democrats and Republicans, immigrants and citizens, young and old alike. The founders of this nation intentionally separated the two, considering repeated failed attempts at an arranged marriage in England and elsewhere in the history of Christendom.

In early nineteenth century America, the visiting French diplomat Alexis de Tocqueville was struck by the proliferation of earnest, religious zeal among the American people. He wrote to a friend back home that the religious atmosphere of the country was “the first thing that struck me on the arrival in the United States.” When asked why he thought Americans were so religious, Tocqueville reflected that any “alliance with any political power whatsoever is bound to be burdensome for religion.”1 In the eyes of the very first colonial settlers, to the founders, and in the generations to come, the separation of religion and government provided for the flourishing of religion, not the other way around.

This fall, the Adult Formation Committee invites you to explore historical and contemporary perspectives of Church and State. Over eight weeks, the fall adult forum will survey the history and contemporary realities of the role of the Church in American political life. A clergy led Wednesday evening discussion group, which will examine historical trends of the balance of political power across Christendom, will complement the Sunday lecture series.

Please join St. Anne’s at the Sunday Adult Forum, 11:30 am to 12:30 p.m. in the Parish Hall beginning Sunday, September 27.