Religious leaders, religion journalists to explore religion and politics in America during symposium, March 28-29

Religious leaders, religion journalists to explore religionand politics in America during symposium, March 28-29March 24, 2005Kelly Homan Rodoskikahoman@syr.edu

The Religion and Society Program in the Department of Religion in Syracuse University’s College of Arts and Sciences will present a symposium on “Religion and Politics in America: Looking Back at 2004 and Looking Ahead,” March 28-29 on the SU campus.

Richard Land, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, will participate in a keynote interview on “Evangelical Christians, The Election and Public Policy,” Monday, March 28 at 7 p.m., in Studio A of the Newhouse II building. Land will be interviewed by Gustav Niebuhr, associate professor of religion and the media and director of the Religion and Society Program. The event is free and open to the public, and parking is available in the University’s paid visitor lots.

The symposium’s Tuesday, March 29 events include panel discussions and a keynote interview. An academic panel will speak on “How Religious Groups Vote” at noon in the 1916 Room of the E.S. Bird Library. Participants will include John Green, director of the Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics at the University of Akron; and Corwin E. Smidt, executive director of the Henry Institute at Calvin College.

A journalists’ panel discussion on “Covering Religion and Politics” will take place at 2 p.m. in the Bartlett Room, Room 262 of the Newhouse II building. Participants will include Barbara Bradley Hagerty, religion correspondent with National Public Radio; Adelle Banks, a reporter with Religion News Service and Newhouse News Service; and Deborah Caldwell of Beliefnet.com.

Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, will participate in a keynote interview, “Has the Wall Separating Church and State Been Breached,” conducted by Niebuhr, at 7:30 p.m. in Studio A of the Newhouse II building.

The academic panel and evening event on March 29 are open to the public, and parking is available in the University’s paid visitor lots. The 2 p.m. journalists’ panel discussion is open to the University community only.

The symposium is co-sponsored by the Office of the Vice President for Undergraduate Studies, the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications; the Knight Chair in Political Reporting, Hendricks Chapel, the Department of Religion and the Religion & Society workshop in the Department of History.

For more information on the symposium, contact the Department of Religion at 443-3861.