george bancroft, the most distinguished american historian of the era. bancroft suggested that he should look to the works of thomas jefferson -- i was going to say alexander hamilton. [laughter] i am in the wrong state. thomas jefferson and james madison. and especially the history of the passage of the statute for establishing religious freedom. he followed that advice. and his decision in reynolds versus the united states fixed to the course the supreme court has followed ever since in its reliance on the virginia statute. the relationship between church and state is among the most enduring concerns of western civilization. but this is embraces the two subjects that my mother said i should never talk about in public -- religion and politics. [laughter] my mother was a wise woman, and she was absolutely right. but the topic was just too fascinating for me to pass up. because questions of church and state, of religion and politics, they embrace our deepest human concerns. how are we to live together as a people? and what place, if any, will god hold in o

including for the soul of mankind, which won the george lewis prize from the american historical association and preponderance of power. which won the bancroft, hoover and farrell prizes. in 2002 and 2003 he was a professor at oxford. he's also held the kissinger chair at the library of congress. mel has been the recipient of fellowships from the council on foreign relations, the united states institute of peace, the woodrow wilson center, and the norwegian nobel institute and, of course, he served as president of shafr. in 2010 mel and arnie west collaborated the history of the cold war and most recently he co-edited "on certain times american foreign policy after the cold war." he's now editing, co-editing a book on comparative strategy making and writing about the foreign policy of the george w. bush administration. our last speaker will be jeffrey engel. jeff is founding director of the center for presidential history at southern methodist university. prior to accepting that appointment, he held a post-doctoral fellowship and taught at the university of wisconsin, yale, the university of pennsylvania, haverford and texas a&m. at texas a&