Religious Freedom: A Conservative Primer

A conservative perspective on vital questions about religious liberty

In this timely book, historian John D. Wilsey addresses urgent questions about religious freedom in America. How have conservatives historically understood the meaning of religious freedom? How do Americans who identify as conservative now think about religious freedom in this era? What are the differences between the historical and contemporary views, and how do those differences shape fights about religious freedom today?

Writing for fellow Americans concerned about threats to religious liberty, Wilsey draws on US history to explain why rather than weaponizing religious freedom in the context of the culture wars, today’s conservatives need to rally around religious freedom to promote peace between church and state. With wisdom and acuity, Wilsey charts a path forward for thinking about and maintaining a uniquely American tradition: the harmony between liberty and religion that each generation has received as an inheritance from the generations preceding theirs.

John D. Wilsey is associate professor of church history and chair of the Department of Church History and Historical Theology at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. His publications include American Exceptionalism and Civil Religion: Reassessing the History of an Idea and God’s Cold Warrior: The Life and Faith of John Foster Dulles.