Balmers Oct. 16 lecture will examine Religious Right's effect on U.S. politics

	Randall Balmer

Randall Balmer offers a critique of the Religious Right from the perspective of an evangelical believer in his most recent book Thy Kingdom Come: How the Religious Right Distorts the Faith and Threatens America.

He’ll explore the topic in a free public lecture False Pretenses: The Religious Right in American Politics on October 16 at 8 p.m. in Linderman Library, Room 200. Balmer’s lecture is presented by the Richard O. and Cindy F. Connell Lecture Series and the Religion Studies Department.

Balmer, a widely published author and scholar, is professor of American religious history at Barnard College, Columbia University. His book Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory: A Journey into the Evangelical Subculture in America became a three-part PBS documentary for which he received an Emmy nomination. His documentary Crusade: The Life of Billy Graham aired on PBS and on A&E’s Biography series.

Balmer also explored the creation-evolutionary debate in a two-part documentary that aired on PBS in 1995 and again in 2001. Additional work has examined the history of American Presbyterians, mainline Protestantism, as well as the acceptance of his father’s faith. Balmer recently completed God in the White House: A History: How Faith Shaped the Presidency from John F. Kennedy to George W. Bush, which will be released in January 2008.

An ordained priest in the Episcopal Church, Balmer also serves as a non-stipendiary assistant at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Washington, Connecticut.

--Tricia Long