2012 Shurden Lectures: Constituting the Separation of Church and State

This is the third and final lecture given by Purdue professor Frank Lambert at the 2012 Shurden Lectures on the campus of Mercer University in Macon, Ga. This lecture centers on the Federal Convention of 1787 and the state ratifying conventions that debated the draft Constitution. It explores the question of religion at those conventions within the context of trying to create a “more perfect Union.” It concludes that the delegates at the Philadelphia Convention separated matters of church and state both to solidify the union and to safeguard religion from government encroachment.