‘Rise of Secularism’ topic for next King’s College ethics lecture

WILKES-BARRE — Perhaps particularly apropos in the wake of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the King’s College 2020 Hesburgh Lecture next Monday will be titled “The rise of secularism in America.”

As with other lectures hosted by the McGowan Center for Ethics and Social Responsibility this year, this one will be held virtually via Zoom.

In a brief note announcing the lecture, McGowan Center Director Bernard Prusak noted that Ginsburg’s death “has brought the intersection of religion and politics back into the news and into political discourse.” Talk of Ginsburg’s replacement has frequently included potential future court rulings on abortion and religious freedom.

The lecture is set for Oct. 5 at 7 p.m. and will feature David Campbell, the Packey J. Dee Professor of American Democracy at the University of Notre Dame. Campbell is also the university’s political science chair.

Campbell and sociologist Robert Putnam co-wrote the book American Grace: How Religion Unites Us and Divides Us, winner of the Woodrow Wilson Foundation Award as best political science book of 2010-11. The New York Times Book Review dubbed it “intellectually powerful” while the Washington Post said it was “perhaps the most sweeping look yet at contemporary American religion.”

Campbell’s forthcoming book is titled “Secular Surge: A New Fault Line in American Politics.”

University of Dayton History Professor Bill Trollinger will respond to Cambell’s lecture. Prusak notes both Campbell and Trollinger “participated in a recent project of the Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies at USC on the growth of religious non-affiliation or “nones.” One of the main drivers of that growth is the association of religion with counter-cultural politics.”

To participate in the lecture, those interested can find a link to registration through the McGowan Center or Ethics and Social Responsibility Facebook page, www.kings.edu/ethics.