Christopher Demuth

In September 2011, AEI honored longtime AEI colleague Walter Berns with a panel dedicated to discussing his scholarship on the Constitution and the republican polity it supports. At this event, former AEI President Arthur C. Brooks announced that henceforth, AEI's annual Constitution Day celebration would be named in honor of Walter. This volume is a collection of the 13 Walter Berns Constitution Day Lectures given since 2012. Walter's own work ranged widely, addressing issues on such diverse topics as civil and religious liberties, free speech, capital punishment, political philosophy, political science, presidential selection, and patriotism. It's fitting that the lectures named after him cover an equally broad array of topics related to the Constitution and the American republic.

Religion and the American Future is a lively, learned dialogue on the role of religion in American society. The contributors raise their voices in opposition to the tide of cynicism and constraint that often overwhelms religion in public life and argue that tolerance, respect, and free expression must define the future of religion in America.

While many Americans live in conditions of prosperity, a second nationwhere illegitimacy, child and drug abuse, violence, criminality, and other social ills proliferateis growing within.