RFP leaders Thomas Farr, Timothy Shah, and Byron Johnson are proud to announce that they are being joined by Kent Hill to create a new religious freedom organization—the Religious Freedom Institute (RFI). As a non-profit, the RFI will take the learning generated by the Berkley Center’s Religious Freedom Project and “put it on the ground” in order to advance religious freedom around the world, and to help people who are being persecuted because of their religious beliefs.  

Research and teaching around religious liberty will continue at the Berkley Center under the auspices of the Religious Freedom Research Project (RFRP). The RFRP will continue the scholarly work of the RFP and extend its successful efforts to establish religious freedom as a field of interdisciplinary inquiry.

Tom Farr and Tim Shah are signatories to a letter written by a coalition of Christian, Muslim, and Jewish leaders opposing California Senate Bill 1146. The bill narrows tax and discrimination exemptions for religious colleges and universities.

Major news networks covered the RFP's conference "Threats to Religious and Ethnic Minorities under ISIS," including C-SPAN, EWTN, Fox News, and the Catholic News Service. The conference was widely-attended by religious leaders, foreign diplomats, and State Department officials.

In a new study, RFP Associate Scholar Brad Wilcox analyzes how social welfare programs affect the marriage decisions of young couples.

On Thursday, July 28, the RFP hosted a conference featuring representatives of communities suffering from genocide and persecution at the hands of the Islamic State. The event was supported by the U.S. State Department's Office of International Religious Freedom.

Today, RFP Director Tom Farr is testifying before the full House Committee on Foreign Affairs concerning the global crisis of religious freedom and the perilous rise of religious persecution around the world. The committee hearing is entitled "Human Rights Under Siege Worldwide."