The religion clauses of the First Amendment didn’t arrive with fireworks or fanfare. In this episode, we explore the surprising evolution of the American idea of religious freedom from constitutional afterthought to culture war battleground. What exactly did America's founders mean when they talked about "religious free exercise"? Article | "James Madison and the Moderate Origins of the Religious Clauses," Liberty magazine (January February 2026) https://www.libertymagazine.org/article/james madison and the moderate origins of the religion clauses Book | Chris Beneke, Free Exercise: Religion, the First Amendment, and the Making of America (Oxford University Press, 2024). https://www.amazon.com/Free Exercise Religion Amendment America/dp/0197767028
