The City of Brotherly Love: Religious Diversity, Freedom, and the Founding of the Nation in Philadelphia

The 2025 NEH K-12 Institute, "The City of Brotherly Love: Religious Diversity, Freedom, and the Founding of the Nation in Philadelphia," will explore the lived history of diverse religious people and communities of early Philadelphia and its impact on American conversations about democracy and the limits and possibilities of religious freedom. Through site visits and lectures, participants will discuss William Penn’s “holy experiment” of political and religious freedom and how it was experienced by others, such as Protestant Christians, Jews, Catholics, Freethinkers, and Muslims.