Dr. Ryan MacPherson
Dr. Ryan MacPherson holds a PhD in history and philosophy of science from the University of Notre Dame. After serving for twenty years as a professor at Bethany Lutheran College, he served as the founding academic dean of Luther Classical College for three years. He is author of Rediscovering the American Republic, a two-volume anthology of primary sources in American history, as well as several other books on topics ranging from theology to politics to bioethics. Dr. MacPherson has testified in court in defense of a homeschool father and for the protection of traditional American civics curricula, contributed to legal briefs submitted to the U.S. Supreme Court in defense of marriage and the rule of law, appeared regularly on a variety of radio shows, and taught seminars for pastors and educators in Canada, Denmark, and Ecuador. He teaches online for Lifelong Lyceum and the Consortium for Classical Lutheran Education.

Religious Free Exercise: A Contemporary Look at the First Amendment
Do people have a “natural right” to religious liberty? What should the government do when crimes are committed in the name of religion? Is the free exercise of religion “essential” to society in the COVID-era sense of that term? Can a Christian school preserve its religious free exercise while receiving state-funded tuition vouchers? What about government-endorsed accreditation agencies? Or teacher training programs for state licensure? These and other pressing questions will be addressed by exploring Supreme Court decisions, legal scholarship, and historical case studies.
