Analysis
Religious Freedom and The Testament of Ann Lee
"The Testament of Ann Lee" is a new film starring Amanda Seyfried as the founder of the Shakers religious movement. I wrote about what the film teaches us about religious liberty for Word&Way. Here's an excerpt:
As America prepares to celebrate 250 years, this film feels like a necessary interruption to the triumphal narrative. It invites us to remember that the promise of religious liberty was forged not only by revolutionaries with muskets, but also by mystics who refused to pick up arms. Ann Lee’s legacy is not merely that she founded a religious movement. It is that she embodied a form of freedom that refuses to be conscripted. In a time when faith is once again being asked to prove its patriotism, that is a testament worth hearing.
Transcript
Anti-Muslim Bigotry Betrays America’s Founding Promise
The myth of the United States as a Christian nation distorts both history and faith, ignoring that the founders explicitly designed religious freedom to include people of all beliefs. Modern Christian nationalism uses this false narrative to justify exclusion and power.