About the Initiative
Wake Forest University School of Divinity’s Initiative on Religion, Pluralism, and American Public Life is a scholarly hub for critically examining how religion influences American public life and democracy. The initiative builds on the school’s ecumenical and interfaith commitments and, most recently, on the 2023 Elizabeth and Robert Strickland Symposium, “Religion, Pluralism, and the Fate of Democracy.” Through lectures, seminars, and public discussions by Wake Forest faculty and other leading scholars, the initiative aims to create unique intellectual spaces to engage some of the most challenging issues facing society and humanity.
Sacred, Secular, Solidarity: New Visions of the Common Good
“This initiative will provide the University and the broader public with essential resources to deepen civil discourse and civic engagement in a time when both are critical to our future. I applaud the School of Divinity for boldly engaging in this important work.”
Susan R. Wente, President
View the Announcement
At the installation service of Corey D. B. Walker as Dean of the Wake Forest University School of Divinity, President Susan R. Wente announced she has committed funding to support the initiative on “Religion, Pluralism, and American Public Life” that will be based at the School of Divinity.
Program for 2025-2026
The Initiative on Religion, Pluralism, and American Public Life program for 2025–2026 will explore the theme “Sacred, Secular, Solidarity: New Visions of the Common Good.” Throughout the year, the Initiative will convene leading scholars, policy officials, and public thinkers to examine the pressing challenge of cultivating sustainable forms of civic engagement and solidarity that advance a broad and inclusive vision of the common good. Through a series of lectures, symposia, research projects, and public dialogues, this year’s program will address the critical issues confronting American democracy in a time of deep social division and moral uncertainty. In doing so, the Initiative seeks to affirm a pluralistic and hopeful vision capable of renewing the moral and civic foundations of American public life.
Program for 2024-2025
The Initiative on Religion, Pluralism, and American Public Life inaugural program for 2024-2025 will focus on the theme “Across the Borders of Tradition: Conversations in Jewish and Christian Thought and Theology.” Over the course of the year, the initiative will feature some of the nation’s leading theologians and scholars of religion examining the intersections of Christian and Jewish thought and theology, new directions in Jewish and African American religious thought and theology, and religion, pluralism, and democratic futures.
“In a moment when our nation is embroiled in an intense struggle over the very substance of democracy in America, an understanding of how religion fuels our highest aspirations and animates our deepest fears is needed now more than ever.”
Corey D. B. Walker, Dean and Wake Forest Professor of the Humanities
Spotlight
Recent resources featuring Wake Forest University School of Divinity faculty engaging religion, politics, and American public life.
Publications
Book | African Americans and Religious Freedom: New Perspectives for Congregations and Communities
Curriculum| Black Religious Liberty Curriculum
Report | Maintaining International Religious Freedom as a Central Tenet of US National Security
Report | A Time to Heal, A Time to Build
Essay | “Between Anguish and Hope: A Response to Some Critical Re-visions of Liberation Theology”
Book | Sabrina E. Dent and Corey D. B. Walker, ed., African Americans and Religious Freedom
Commentary | “Religious Freedom’s Racial Reckoning”
Media
Article | “What America’s history can teach us about debates on religious freedom and its importance for democracy“
Article | “On Juneteenth, Freedom Came with Strings Attached”
Article | “United Methodist Church Votes to End Ban on Ordaining Gay Clergy”
Article | “Revised book highlights religious freedom for African Americans”
Op-Ed | “The desire for retaliation is a fool’s errand”
Op-Ed | “Revisiting ‘natural law’ and gun rights”
Op-Ed | “Republicans, Democrats, PHNs and cutting the baby in half”
Op-Ed | “Religious Freedom in America is protected for some more than others”
Op-Ed | “Black, Jewish Americans have vested interests in fighting racism, anti-Semitism”
Article | “African Americans and Religious Freedom’ Aims to Get Readers on the Same Page Concerning Democracy”
Podcast | “Why Professor Corey D.B. Walker Looks to the Past to Understand Today’s Complex World”
Podcast | “Losing Sleep Before God” featuring Bill Leonard and Corey D. B. Walker
Events
Panel | “The Politics of Belief: Religion, Law, and the Common Good”
Panel | “The Legacy of the Baptist Wars, Christian Nationalism, & the Fate of Democracy in America”
Lecture | “Abolition Christianity: Ministry Beyond Empire”
Conversation | “A Commonwealth of Hope: Reimagining Augustine’s Political Thought”
Panel | “Religion, Pluralism, and the Fate of Democracy”
Panel | “Founding Religious Freedom”