This roundtable will offer critical reflections on a timely new book: Samira Mehta’s God Bless the Pill: The Surprising History of Contraception and Sexuality in American Religion (University of North Carolina Press, 2026). Revealing a long, often-hidden history of religion and sexual health, Samira Mehta’s groundbreaking account details the high-stakes culture war battles fought over contraception in the United States. In addition to being a deeply researched study, God Bless the Pill also offers a powerfully usable, deeply sensitive historical guide to our present moment, during which sexual and reproductive autonomy has come under a renewed wave of attack. The roundtable convenes rising and established scholars of religion with a broad range of expertise–including in religion and sexuality, women’s history, African American religions, American Jewish history, and American Catholicism–to explore how God Bless the Pill reframes our history of contraception and sexuality and offers a roadmap for our contemporary moment.
| Samira Mehta | smehta@post.harvard.edu | View |