If you missed PBS’s “God in America” series last Fall, you can now watch it online for free. You can stream it from PBS’s website, or you can watch all six episodes below. Here’s a description of the program:
For the first time on television, God in America explores the tumultuous 400-year history of the intersection of religion and public life in America, from the first European settlements to the 2008 presidential election. A co-production of AMERICAN EXPERIENCE and FRONTLINE, this six-hour series examines how religious dissidents helped shape the American concept of religious liberty and the controversial evolution of that ideal in the nation’s courts and political arena; how religious freedom and waves of new immigrants and religious revivals fueled competition in the religious marketplace; how movements for social reform — from abolition to civil rights — galvanized men and women to put their faith into political action; and how religious faith influenced conflicts from the American Revolution to the Cold War.
The picture in the upper right is from the opening credits of the program. It shows Jerry Falwell shaking hands with Ronald Reagan while Paige and Dorothy Patterson look on. The occassion was the Religious Roundtable’s National Affairs Briefing, a gathering of 15,000 evangelicals in Dallas, Texas on August 22, 1980. This is where Ronald Reagan famously said, “I know you can’t endorse me. But I want you to know that I endorse you.”
