In this episode, Charles McCrary joins Matt Sheedy to discuss the role of sincerity in shaping American conceptions of religion that he explores in his recent book Sincerely Held: American Secularism and Its Believers (University of Chicago Press, 2022). Tracing a cultural history of “sincerely held religious beliefs,” from 19th century court cases on fortune telling and the policing of morality in New York, to conscientious objectors in the 1940s and 1960s, McCrary helps us understand how the U.S. Supreme Court has determined who and what counts as ‘religious’ as American secularism developed over the last century. Questions of race, gender, and sex are also in the mix, as recent cases have shifted the burden of sincerity from the protection of ‘minority’ beliefs to the rights of people and corporations to deny people services if they feel it violates their religious freedom.
Also, as noted by Charlie and Matt in the episode, this discussion is a great conversation partner for our recent episode with Finbarr Curtis, “Spitting on the Sacred: Politics and Redefining Profanation“—be sure to check it out if you missed it!
Media and the Study of Religion
The Sacrality of the Secular and Philosophy of Religion
Discourse! #13 | January 2020
Separating Religion and Government…But What Is Religion?: A Look at the US Supreme Court
Only Sixty Seconds! | Mid-Year Special 2019
Discourse #12 | December 2019
Applied Religious Studies at Georgia State University
Secular Jewish Millennials in Israel/Palestine
Unbelief as a Nuanced Phenomenon: The Sociality of Nonreligion across Europe
Straight White American Jesus, the podcast
Discourse #11 | Oct 2019
Doctors and Stigmatics in the 19th and 20th centuries
Reflections on “Thinking with Jonathan Z. Smith”
Lady Death and the Pluralization of Latin American Religion
EASR 2019 Publishing Panel
The secularization of discourse in contemporary Latin American neoconservatism
BASR 2019: The State of the Discipline
When Archive Meets A.I. – Computational Humanities Research on a Danish Secular Saint
How Religious Freedom Makes Religion
Discourse #10 |Sept 2019
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
The Hello Heaven Podcast
Devoted To Prayer
Cast The Word
Let Me Be Frank | Bishop Frank Caggiano’s Podcast | Diocese of Bridgeport, CT
The Exorcist Files
Oh No, Ross and Carrie