Loneliness and isolation are up; church attendance is down. America is becoming a post-Christian nation, while politics becomes ever more divided and vitriolic. What if these trends are related—and what do they portend? In this groundbreaking, richly illustrated lecture, journalist, author, and lifelong atheist Jonathan Rauch explains why Christianity’s contemporary crisis is making American ungovernable. Drawing on philosophy, history, scripture, and today’s headlines, his inspirational talk reveals what Jesus and James Madison have in common and how, together, their teachings can help to heal our politics—and maybe Christianity, too.  After the talk, Rauch will take questions.

Rauch is one of the country’s most versatile and original writers on government, public policy, and gay marriage, among other subjects. A senior fellow of the Brookings Institution in Washington and contributing writer of The Atlantic, he is the author of eight books and many articles and has received the magazine industry’s two leading prizes — the National Magazine Award (the industry’s equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize) and the National Headliner Award.

This event is sponsored by the Central PA chapter of the ACLU of Pennsylvania, The McCourtney Institute for Democracy, and the University Baptist & Brethren Church.