Wednesday, October 30, 4-6pm, OSU Faculty Club, 181 S. Oval Dr.

The 2024/2025 Don and Barbara Davis Lecture on Christianity Studies will feature Daniel K. Williams, senior fellow at the Ashbrook Center at Ashland University.

Religious controversies over abortion, LGBTQ+ rights, and the content of children’s education have polarized American politics for decades. But religion’s influence on American politics is not confined to the political right; the Democratic Party has also been deeply shaped by religion. This lecture will examine both political parties’ complicated historical relationship with religion and will explore what that history means for our current political moment in a nation that is divided by both politics and religion.

Bio: Daniel K. Williams is a senior fellow at the Ashbrook Center at Ashland University, where he teaches courses on modern American history. He is the author of several books on American religion and politics, including God’s Own Party: The Making of the Christian Right, Defenders of the Unborn: The Pro-Life Movement before Roe v. Wade, and The Politics of the Cross: A Christian Alternative to Partisanship. His articles have appeared in the New York Times, the Atlantic, the Washington Post, and Christianity Today.

A reception will follow this lecture.

Hosted by OSU Center for the Study of Religion.