Wake Forest University School of Divinity to host this year’s Walter B. and Kay W. Shurden Lectures with Baptist Joint Committee (BJC)

Join us on the campus of Wake Forest University on Oct. 21-22 to hear from Maya Wiley, a nationally respected civil rights attorney and activist who has dedicated her life to the fights for justice, equality, and fairness. She’ll deliver a lecture on the first day, and there will be a panel discussion on day two. The events are free and open to the public, but we ask that you register.

“Wake Forest University School of Divinity is proud of its longstanding partnership with the BJC (Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty) and we are honored to host this year’s program on “Faith and Freedom at 250: Religious Liberty, Justice, and the Unfinished Work of Democracy,” said Corey D. B. Walker, Dean and Wake Forest Professor of the Humanities. “At a time of profound crisis, democratic retreat, and moral uncertainty, this year’s lecture and public conversation invite us to reflect together on the enduring significance and evolving possibilities of religious freedom, justice, and democracy as we consider the unfinished work of our nation. We know this year’s event will be both informative and inspiring as we deepen our collective understanding of the vital relationship between religious freedom and democratic life.”

On October 21 at 5:00 p.m. in Porter Byrum Welcome Center, Kulynych Auditorium, Maya Wiley delivers the 2026 Shurden Lecture, examining the disconnect between church-state law and civil rights law and what that separation has meant for religious freedom and racial justice in America. The lecture will be followed by a moderated question-and-answer session. 

On October 22 at 11:00 a.m. in Worrell Professional Center, Law School Auditorium, Audra Savage and Amanda Tyler will be in conversation about the intersection of race, religion, civil rights and religious liberty in American law. Moderated by Dr. Corey D. B. Walker, the discussion will examine how courts use history and tradition—and how a more inclusive understanding of both could strengthen civil rights and religious freedom. 

Maya Wiley is the president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil & Human Rights and The Leadership Conference Education Fund. A nationally respected civil rights attorney, she has been a litigator and a program creator and policy advocate in philanthropy, non-profits, government, and higher education.

In 2014, she became the first Black woman to be Counsel to a New York City Mayor, Bill deBlasio, where she worked to protect and expand civil rights, Minority and Women-Owned Business contracts and broadband access. Wiley became a Senior Vice President for Social Justice at the New School University, where she also founded the Digital Equity Laboratory.

Wiley has been a litigator at the ACLU, NAACP Legal Defense Fund, Inc, and the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. She has received numerous awards, and has been a public voice for rights, justice and democracy, through written opinion editorials and as a former legal analyst for NBC News and MSNBC. Learn more about Maya Wiley.

Audra Lyn Savage uses the lenses of critical race theory and legal history to analyze issues of justice at the intersection of law, religion, and race. She teaches courses on business organizations, freedom of religion and race and the law. Professor Savage’s award-winning scholarship has been widely published. Learn more about Audra Lyn Savage.

Amanda Tyler is executive director of BJC (Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty), leading the organization as it upholds the historic Baptist principle of religious liberty: defending the free exercise of religion and protecting against its establishment by government. She is the author of How to End Christian Nationalism. Learn more about Amanda Tyler.

Corey D. B. Walker is an acclaimed scholar, academic leader, and public intellectual committed to a broad and inclusive vision of human flourishing. He serves as Dean of Wake Forest University School of Divinity, Wake Forest Professor of the Humanities, and Inaugural Director of the Program in African American and African Studies. Learn more about Corey D. B. Walker

History of the Shurden Lectures

In 2004, Dr. Walter B. Shurden and Dr. Kay W. Shurden of Macon, Georgia, made a gift to BJC to establish an annual lectureship on the issues of religious liberty and the separation of church and state. The annual event travels to campuses across the country, bringing a speaker to engage with the community and inspire students to stand up for religious freedom for all people. Designed to enhance the ministry and programs of BJC, the Lectures are held at Mercer University in Georgia every three years and at another seminary, college or university in the intermediate years.

The lecturers may be academicians, politicians, ministers, church historians, ethicists or activists. Above all, the Shurden Lecturer is someone who can inspire and call others to an ardent commitment to religious freedom and the separation of church and state.

About Walter and Kay Shurden

A nationally noted church historian, Dr. Walter B. Shurden is the founding executive director of the Center for Baptist Studies and a minister at large for Mercer University. Shurden served at Mercer for almost 25 years as Callaway Professor of Christianity in the Roberts Department of Christianity in the College of Liberal Arts. During 18 of those years, he served as Chair of the Roberts Department of Christianity. Dr. Kay W. Shurden retired after serving for 17 years as a professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Mercer University School of Medicine. An admired teacher, conference leader, mentor and church leader, she is an author and was a marriage and family therapist in Middle Georgia.