Book talk: Faith in American Public Life with Melissa Rogers

In Faith in American Public Life, Melissa Rogers―former Special Assistant to President Barack Obama and Executive Director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships―explores the role of religion in the public square and focuses on principles that define the relationship between government and religion. While the Constitution prohibits government-backed religion, it protects the rights of religious individuals and organizations to promote their faith. These twin principles have helped freedom and faith to flourish in the United States.

At the same time, Rogers warns of current threats to religious freedom and pluralism in America, the most serious of which are rising hostility toward and attacks on religious minorities. Fearmongering regarding certain religions, races, and ethnicities and the use of violent imagery and dehumanizing language amount to throwing a match on dry kindling. Americans, Rogers argues, must take action to counter these threats. She also warns about efforts to shrink the constitutional bar on governmental establishment of religion and upset a balanced approach to free exercise issues. Faith in American Public Life offers suggestions for confronting these and other challenges.

Rogers walks readers through settled and contested legal issues, providing an accessible guide to many of the most important and timely matters in this field. The legal rules are not perfect, she says, but they have established a framework that produces remarkable freedom and have helped to create a country where religion can be a powerful force for good. Through her knowledgeable analysis and practical recommendations for policymakers and religious leaders, Rogers inspires hope that the genius of the American system can be preserved and perfected and that efforts to find common ground can be renewed.

Speaker

Melissa Rogers is a nationally known expert on religion in American public life. Her areas of expertise include the United States Constitution’s religious liberty guarantees and the interplay of religion, law, policy, and politics. Rogers currently serves as Visiting Professor at Wake Forest University School of Divinity and as a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution.

Rogers previously served as Special Assistant to President Barack Obama and Executive Director of the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships (2013-2017), Chair of President Obama’s inaugural Advisory Council on Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships (2009-2010), Director of the Center for Religion and Public Affairs at the Wake Forest University School of Divinity (2003 – 2013), Executive Director of the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life (2000 – 2003), and Associate Counsel/General Counsel of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty (1994 – 2000).

Rogers is author of Faith in American Public Life (2019) and co-author of Religious Freedom and the Supreme Court (2008). She has received an Honorary Doctorate of Divinity from both Wake Forest University and the John Leland Center for Theological Studies. Rogers holds a J.D. from University of Pennsylvania Law School and a B.A. from Baylor University. In 2017, President Barack Obama appointed Rogers to serve as a member of the United States Holocaust Memorial Council. Baylor University awarded her its Pro Texana Medal of Service and the First Freedom Center gave Rogers its Virginia First Freedom Award. National Journal has recognized Rogers as one of the church-state experts “politicians will call on when they get serious about addressing an important public policy issue.”

Moderator

Emre Celik is the Executive Director at Peace Islands New York. He has held positions in numerous non-profits in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Washington DC and New York working on educational and interfaith projects. He is currently completing his PhD in Islamic Studies examining civil Islam in the United States and regularly speaks on civil Islam, sufism, Muslim diaspora communities and human rights issues and has spoken at Harvard, Georgetown, American, George Washington and various other universities and institutions in the United States. His op-eds, interviews and social media are available here : https://bit.ly/EC_bio