Religion in the News

Gjelten, Tom. “To Understand How Religion Shapes America, Look To Its Early Days.” NPR, NPR, 28 June 2017, www.npr.org/2017/06/28/534765046/smithsonian-exhibit-explores-religious-diversitys-role-in-u-s-history

This article focuses on Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History, which has recently revealed their new exhibit, Religion in American History. Religion has always had an underlying theme in American history, with slaves first bringing Islam to the South, and Christian preachers leading abolition around the same time in the North. While housing many Christian artifacts, such as a specialized shortened version of the New Testament created by Thomas Jefferson, they also hold reminders that even it its founding days, America was not only a Catholic nation. Many slaves were Muslims, and often literate ones would create texts in Arabic to pass down their religion, such as a 13 page book with basic Islamic teachings.