UPCOMING EVENTS
February 29, 2012
February President's Interfaith Challenge Roundtable
March 1, 2012
Religious Freedom: Why Now? Defending an Embattled Human Right
March 6, 2012
How Far has Medical Male Circumcision for HIV Prevention in Africa Advanced?
April 11, 2012
Religious Freedom and Equality: Emerging Conflicts in North America and Europe
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RELATED PUBLICATION
March 1, 2011
Report of the Georgetown Symposium on Religion in American Public Life
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RELATED PROGRAM
Religion and US Foreign Policy
Both the practice and analysis of US foreign policy has traditionally marginalized religious questions. With the support of the Henry Luce Foundation, the Berkley Center explores the role of rel...
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Proselytism as a Policy Challenge
Proselytism is an increasingly important and controversial issue in international affairs -- and has not received the attention it deserves. In a globalizing world, governments and religious commun...RECENT MEDIA
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February 8, 2012
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Jose Casanova Giving Ensign Lecture at Yale
February 7, 2012
Katherine Marshall at the UN for World Interfaith Harmony Week
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February 3, 2012
Katherine Marshall Blogs: Women at Risk in an Unequal World
February 2, 2012
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February 1, 2012
Call for Applications: Education and Social Justice International Summer Research Fellowships 2012
February 1, 2012
Catholic News Agency Quotes RFP Director Tom Farr on the Obama Administration's Stance Towards Religious Freedom
January 30, 2012
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January 27, 2012
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March 1, 2011
Religion in American Politics and Society: A Model for Other Countries?
Is the dominant American approach to religion, society, and the state worthy of emulation in other countries? The question is not only academic, but it has policy implications both for the American future and for U.S. efforts to promote religious freedom and democracy worldwide. It intersects with global controversies about international norms, national self-determination, proselytism, and the rights of religious communities. On March 1, 2011, Georgetown University brought together leading scholars and practitioners to discuss these issues. Three panels examined these questions from the perspective of Judaism, Islam, and Christianity, respectively. Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver delivered a lunchtime keynote address. The symposium was sponsored by Georgetown's Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs and Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service and made possible through the generous support of the Henry Luce Foundation.
Text of Archbishop Chaput's Keynote Address
Agenda
9:00 am: Welcome by Thomas F. Farr, Senior Fellow, The Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, & World Affairs
9:15-10:30 am: The Jewish Experience
Panelists
Marshall J. Breger, Professor of Law at the Columbus School of Law, The Catholic University of America
Randi L. Rashkover, Assistant Professor, Religious Studies Department, George Mason University
Rabbi David Saperstein, Director and Counsel, Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism
10:45 am-noon: The Muslim Experience
Panelists
Ed Husain, Senior Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations
Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, Founder and Chairman of the Cordoba Initiative
Asma Uddin, International Legal Fellow, The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty
12:15-1:15 pm: Lunch and Keynote Address by Archbishop Charles Chaput, Denver, Colorado
1:30-2:45 pm: The Christian Experience
Panelists
Jerry Rankin, President Emeritus, International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention
Jim Wallis, President and Chief Executive Officer, Sojourners
John Witte, Jr., Jonas Robitscher Professor of Law and Director of the Center for the Study of Law and Religion, Emory University
The Most Reverend Charles J. Chaput is the current archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Denver, Colorado. In 1968, he became a Brother in the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin, a branch of the Franciscans and was ordained a priest in 1970. In 1977, he became pastor of Holy Cross parish in Thornton, Colorado and appointed Bishop of Rapid City, South Dakota in 1988. The same year he was consecrated bishop of that diocese. He is a member of the Board of Trustees at The Catholic University of America and served on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom from 2003 to 2006. Chaput is the author of Render Unto Caesar: Serving the Nation by Living Our Catholic Beliefs in Political Life (2008), in which he argues that Catholics should take a more active role in the political process and that private convictions cannot be separated from public actions without diminishing both. He believes that American democracy depends upon an engaged citizenry, including religious believers, to function properly.
Agenda
9:00 am: Welcome by Thomas F. Farr, Senior Fellow, The Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, & World Affairs
9:15-10:30 am: The Jewish Experience
Panelists
Marshall J. Breger, Professor of Law at the Columbus School of Law, The Catholic University of America
Randi L. Rashkover, Assistant Professor, Religious Studies Department, George Mason University
Rabbi David Saperstein, Director and Counsel, Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism
10:45 am-noon: The Muslim Experience
Panelists
Ed Husain, Senior Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations
Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, Founder and Chairman of the Cordoba Initiative
Asma Uddin, International Legal Fellow, The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty
12:15-1:15 pm: Lunch and Keynote Address by Archbishop Charles Chaput, Denver, Colorado
1:30-2:45 pm: The Christian Experience
Panelists
Jerry Rankin, President Emeritus, International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention
Jim Wallis, President and Chief Executive Officer, Sojourners
John Witte, Jr., Jonas Robitscher Professor of Law and Director of the Center for the Study of Law and Religion, Emory University
The Most Reverend Charles J. Chaput is the current archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Denver, Colorado. In 1968, he became a Brother in the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin, a branch of the Franciscans and was ordained a priest in 1970. In 1977, he became pastor of Holy Cross parish in Thornton, Colorado and appointed Bishop of Rapid City, South Dakota in 1988. The same year he was consecrated bishop of that diocese. He is a member of the Board of Trustees at The Catholic University of America and served on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom from 2003 to 2006. Chaput is the author of Render Unto Caesar: Serving the Nation by Living Our Catholic Beliefs in Political Life (2008), in which he argues that Catholics should take a more active role in the political process and that private convictions cannot be separated from public actions without diminishing both. He believes that American democracy depends upon an engaged citizenry, including religious believers, to function properly.
Participants
Marshall J. Breger
Marshall J. Breger is Professor of Law at the Columbus School of Law, The Catholic University of America, and was a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation until 1995.
He served as Solicitor of Labor and Acting Assistant Secretary for Labor Mana...
Charles J. Chaput
The Most Reverend Charles J. Chaput is the current archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Denver, Colorado. In 1968, he became a Brother in the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin, a branch of the Franciscans and was ordained a priest in 1970....
Ed Husain
Ed Husain is Senior Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. His work focuses on international threats from radicalization, extremism, and terrorism. Previously, Mr. Husain was cofounder and codirector of Quilliam Foundation, the world’s first ...
Jerry Rankin
Jerry Rankin is President Emeritus of International Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. He has spent the last 40 years serving as a missionary in Indonesia, Associate to the Area Director for South and Southeast Asia, Administrator f...
Randi L. Rashkover
Randi L. Rashkover is an assistant professor in the religious studies department of George Mason University whose areas of interest include Jewish philosophy, Jewish-Christian theological relations, and Jewish feminist thought. She previously tau...
David Saperstein
A lawyer and prominent Reform Jewish community leader, Rabbi David Saperstein is the director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism in Washington, DC. He also co-chairs the Coalition to Preserve Religious Liberty and serves on the boar...
Asma Uddin
Asma T. Uddin is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of altmuslimah.com. She is also a Legal Fellow with the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding (ISPU) and an international law attorney with The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a non-profi...
Jim Wallis
Reverend Jim Wallis is a bestselling author, public theologian, and commentator on religion and public life, faith, and politics. Wallis is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Sojourners, a progressive Christian grassroots movement founde...
John Witte, Jr.
John Witte, Jr. is the Jonas Robitscher Professor of Law and Director of the Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University. His research focuses on religious liberty, marriage and family law, human rights, and legal history. Witte h...
