It is difficult to conceive of human beings independent of our relationship with religion. For all of history, religion has captivated the minds, hearts, and lives of every human society. It has driven our politics, shaped and divided families, and built our countries. But the modern West has a unique relationship with religion. It has rejected it, secularized key institutions, and now seems to be giving organized religion, and specifically Christianity, another look. Is the human person fundamentally religious? Can we escape a religious impulse? How do religious ideals contribute to our American governance and political makeup? Understanding religion reveals something about the human person. It says something about how we engage politically, within culture, and how we treat other people. I sat down with Dr. Molly Worthen to discuss these questions, our American religious and political moment, and more.

Dr. Molly Worthen is a professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill who studies the religious and intellectual history of North America. She is a freelance journalist who regularly writes about religion, politics, and education for the New York Times, the Atlantic, and the New Yorker. Dr. Worthen’s new book Spellbound details the role of charisma in American political and religious history.