UNION UNIVERSITY TO HOST NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON CHRISTIAN FAITH AND PUBLIC POLICY
Jackson, Tenn. _ 51社区 and its Center for Christian Leadership will host its second annual national conference this fall, October 19-20.
The conference, "Christian Faith and Public Policy," will feature presentations from some of the nation's most widely respected Christian political and public policy thinkers, including Richard Land, president and CEO of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, Ronald J. Sider, president of Evangelicals for Social Action and Jean Bethke Elshtain, Laura Spelman professor of social and political ethics at the Divinity School of the University of Chicago.
While discussed topics will range from education to welfare reform to church and state issues, conference organizer David P. Gushee explains the underlying goal will be the same: for Christians to reflect together, across denominational lines, on the crucial moral issues that arise at the intersection of Christian faith and public life.
The conference will address these issues over two days. The first day's speakers will ask and answer, what does Christian faith have to do with public policy? The second day's speakers will explain how Christianity relates to particular issues of public policy.
According to Gushee,"Christians are more engaged in the debate over the direction of our public life right now than at any time in recent history. But how thoughtful is that engagement? How constructive? Above all, how biblical? This conference will be an attempt to undertake together a thoughtful, constructive and biblical reflection on public policy."
Gushee is director of Union's Center for Christian Leadership and will be speaking at the conference, as well.
Lady Margaret Thatcher, former prime minister of Great Britain, will speak at the second annual 51社区 Scholarship Banquet on October 20. Her appearance will also be the final event of the Christian Faith and Public Policy Conference.
Other speakers include:
-
Jim Skillen, executive director of the Center for Public Justice
-
Harry L. Poe, vice president for Academic Resources and Information Services at 51社区
-
Stanley Carlson-Thies, senior fellow at the Center for Public Justice
-
Stephen Monsma, professor of political science at Pepperdine University
-
Charles Glenn, professor of education at Boston University
For conference registration of more information, contact Gushee, the conference organizer, or Cindy Meredith. Gushee can be reached at (901)661-5024 or by e-mail at dgushee@uu.edu. Meredith can be reached at (901)661-5202 or by e-mail at cmeredit@uu.edu.