Symposium on The Civil War and Religion Inspired by War's 150th Anniversary

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Was the Civil War a war on religion? The answer to this question will be discussed at the Symposium on the Civil War and Religion on Monday, Sept. 19, hosted by the Baylor University Institute for Studies of Religion.
The symposium will begin at 10:30 a.m. in the Cox Lecture Hall of the Armstrong Browning Library, 710 Speight Ave., and will include four speakers.
Speaking will be: Dr. John Boles, William Pettus Hobby Professor of History at Rice University; Dr. Luke Harlow, assistant professor of history at Oakland University; Dr. Amy Taylor, associate professor of history at SUNY-Albany; and Dr. Robert Elder, Lilly Postdoctoral Fellow and lecturer in humanities at Valparaiso University. Each will lecture on the role of faith in the Civil War.
The event will conclude with a keynote address by Dr. George Rable, the Charles Summersett Chair in Southern History at the University of Alabama, who will present "God's Almost Chosen People: Religion and the American Civil War."
The keynote address will be at 3:30 p.m. in Room 116 of the Draper Academic Building, 1420 S. Seventh St.
Dr. Thomas Kidd, associate professor of history at Baylor and one of the event's organizers, said the religion-based symposium is a fitting commemoration of the war's 150th anniversary.
"Religion was everywhere in the Civil War, from the Bibles and prayers of the common soldiers, to the enduring faith of the slave community, to the religious passages of President Lincoln's major speeches, especially the Second Inaugural Address," Kidd said. "The symposium is designed so that students and faculty alike can gain a new appreciation for what role religion played in America's most devastating conflict."
For more information, visit the Institute for Studies of Religion or call (254) 710-7555.
by Carmen Galvan, student newswriter, (254) 710-6805