Today on "Kresta in the Afternoon" - February 18, 2013

Talking about the "things that matter most" on Feb. 18

4:00 – What Is Marriage?: Man and Woman: A Defense
Until recently, no society had seen marriage as anything other than a conjugal partner¬ship: a male-female union. Prof. Robert George identifies and defends the reasons for this historic consensus and shows why redefining civil marriage is unnecessary, unreasonable, and contrary to the common good. He is here to offer a devastating critique of the idea that equality requires redefining marriage.

5:00 – Presidents Day: The Faith of the Presidents
Religion has been a major part of the presidency since George Washington's first inaugural address. Despite the mounting interest in the role of religion in American public life, we actually know remarkably little about the faith of our presidents. Was Thomas Jefferson an atheist, as his political opponents charged? What role did Lincoln's religious views play in his handling of slavery and the Civil War? How did born-again Southern Baptist Jimmy Carter lose the support of many evangelicals? Was George W. Bush, as his critics often claimed, a captive of the religious right? On this Presidents Day presidential historian Gary Scott Smith answers these questions and many more. He takes a sweeping look at the role religion has played in presidential politics and policies.