The Aspen Institute 70d ago

For 250 years, religious liberty has been a bedrock of the American project. Often called the country’s “first freedom,” religious liberty motivated many people to flee their homeland to worship as they saw fit. As last year's Mahmoud v. Taylor case reminds us, the issue is still being contested, redefined, and asserted today. What major through-lines have guided Supreme Court jurisprudence on religious liberty? Are Americans’ religious freedoms more protected today than 25 years ago? Two law school professors—John Inazu of Washington University in St. Louis and Asma Uddin of Michigan State University—will explore shifts in the country’s institutional trust, generational patterns, and religious liberty commitments. This talk is part of the Religion & Society Program's Faith Angle Forum series, which equips mainstream journalists with resources to strengthen reporting and commentary on how religious communities and convictions shape politics and public life. This session was filmed March 16, 2026, in Miami, FL. Read more about Faith Angle at our website: https://faithangle.org/