The Religious Freedom Institute’s (RFI) Freedom of Religious Institutions in Society (FORIS) Project is a three-year initiative funded by the John Templeton Foundation that aims to clarify the meaning and value of institutional religious freedom. Religious liberty is not an individual right alone, but rather includes the right of religious communities to gather for worship and to establish religious organizations such as schools, hospitals, ministries to the poor, and countless others. Institutional religious freedom encompasses this full range of congregational and organizational exercises of religion.
This event, which marks the conclusion of this momentous project, will include keynote remarks from a tireless champion of religious freedom in America and abroad, Ambassador Sam Brownback. Following his keynote address, two panels of leading experts and scholars will explore the meaning, value, and limits of institutional religious freedom in the context of two contemporary policy areas: 1) sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) policies in the United States, and 2) COVID-19 restrictions that have been directed at faith institutions in India, the United States, Malaysia, and numerous other countries during the pandemic.
*This is now a virtual event and will be livestreamed on this event page, as well as, on RFI’s Facebook page and YouTube channel.
PROGRAMA
12:00PM - OPENING REMARKS: Tom Farr, President of the Religious Freedom Institute
12:15PM - KEYNOTE ADDRESS: Sam Brownback, former Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom; Fellow for The Center for Religious Liberty, Columbus School of Law, The Catholic University of America
12:45PM - PANEL I: Achieving Freedom & Fairness for All Americans & Their Religious Institutions
This panel will provide an overview of the FORIS policy report, “Western Societies Need Proactive Policies to Protect Institutional Religious Freedom” followed by a discussion of the Fairness for All Act and other proposed remedies to the range of ongoing disputes between SOGI policies and the freedom of religious institutions.
Moderator: Mark Rienzi, President & CEO of The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty; Professor at The Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law; Visiting Professor at Harvard Law School
Panelists:
Paul Marshall, Director of RFI’s South and Southeast Asia Action Team; FORIS Scholar; Wilson Professor of Religious Freedom at the Institute for Studies of Religion, Baylor University
Timothy Shah, Distinguished Research Scholar at the University of Dallas; Senior Fellow at the Archbridge Institute; and FORIS Scholar and Principal Architect
Stanley Carlson-Thies, Founder & Senior Director the Institutional Religious Freedom Alliance, The Center for Public Justice
David Trimble, Vice President for Public Policy and Director of the Center for Religious Freedom Education, RFI
2:00PM - PANEL II: Protecting the Freedom of Religious Institutions in a Time of Global Pandemic
This panel will survey COVID-19 policies around the world that have restricted the freedom of religious institutions throughout the pandemic and reflect on key lessons that should inform government officials and religious leaders going forward.
Moderator: Paul Marshall, Director of RFI’s South and Southeast Asia Action Team; FORIS Scholar; Wilson Professor of Religious Freedom at the Institute for Studies of Religion, Baylor University
Panelists:
Rebecca Shah, Senior Fellow at the Archbridge Institute and Principal Investigator for the Religion and Economic Empowerment Project (REEP)
Kathleen Brady, Affiliated Fellow, Center for the Study of Law and Religion, Emory University
Katherine Marshall, Senior Fellow at the Berkeley Center, Georgetown University
3:15PM - Conclude Event
