joseph loconte and dr. eric patterson. please welcome them. [applause] >> thank you, angela. thank you so much for that. can you guys hear me back there in the bleacher seats? great, okay. welcome, everybody. so got everybody here tonight. it says a lot about you that you came out here to hear a discussion about the mayflower compact. this is all about you, and it's all good. we are in the throes of a debate today over the meaning and the legitimacy of our democracy, right? the latest conspiracy theory, masquerading as history, is that everything important about america can be explained through the lens of racism and oppression. but at the very beginning of american story, we see something else. something remarkable in the history of world of civilization. because in 16 20, we see a group of settlers established political community based on the concepts of self governments and equal justice. it's and the thought of shooting moment, not just in but 1620, especially when you consider that hundreds of millions of people today, ladies and gentlemen, today, live under governments

loconte. but the gate in what way? does the mayflower compact account for non-christians in their society? how does the compact account for non-christians? signatory, i mean that it accounts in that way. they everyone and it was important that non-christians. or non let's just say the people who are not fervent. puritanism might well been christian. we don't know a lot about many of them but it doesn't definitely definitionally deal with that, but i think the very fact that they participated on equal dangerous. here's the profound means. but maybe others have i would follow i would say we must remember and this is specific in the compact. it is a covenant. a covenant among people who agree so that their agreement among themselves defines the community. the idea of accommodating non-christians or non members of the community doesn't rise in that context. why should they? being mindful of non-christians, but they have done is extended in invitation to like-minded people to form a community together. well, guess what? he