Events

September 25, 2009

The Rules of Fundamentalism and the Rule of the Law

Dr. Martin E. Marty
7:30pm
Smith Auditorium-Free and Open to the public
Willamette University

Professor Marty is the nation's leading scholar on the history of religion in American.  The author of more than fifty books, Professor Marty was the co-director of the Fundamentalish Project, which resulted in the publication of the five volume study on fundamentalism in modern culture. 

For more information contact Reyna Meyers with the Center for Religion, Law and Democracy at 503-370-6046 or rmeyers@willamette.edu

October 16, 2009

Symposium:  The Future of the First Amendment

8:00a.m.-6:00p.m. Paulus Lecture Hall, College of Law Willamette University

The Center, in conjunction with the Willamette Law Review and the American Constitution Society, is sponsoring a national symposium on the Future of the First Amendment.  Leading scholars will examine various issues impacting free expression and religious liberty, including:  access to government-controlled information; regulation of the internet; student speech in the public schools; the faith-based initiative; and religious displays on public property.  Dear Erwin Chemerinsky will give the opening keynote.

For more information contact Reyna Meyers with the Center for Religion, Law and Democracy at 503-370-6046 or rmeyers@willamette.edu

Queer Conversions: The Sexual Politics of the Christian Ex-Gay Movement

Professor Tanya Erzen
7:30 pm
Hatfield Room, 2nd floor, Mark O. Hatfield Library, Willamette University

Professor Tanya Erzen will also give a free lecture at 11:30 a.m. that day in Cone Chapel for University Convocation. Erzen’s visit is sponsored by Willamette’s Center for Religion, Law and Democracy and The Teagle Foundation.

Erzen is an associate professor in the department of comparative studies at Ohio State University. Her scholarly interests include American and comparative religion with a focus on Evangelicalism; religion, gender and sexuality; social movements and politics; political theory; and the Christian Right. She is the author of the award-winning 2006 book, Straight to Jesus: Sexual and Christian Conversions in the Ex-Gay Movement.

Straight to Jesus is an ethnographic study and cultural history of the ex-gay movement, an international network of religious ministries that attempt to change and convert gay men and lesbians to non-homosexual Christian lives through psychological, self-help, therapeutic and biblical approaches. The book, which focuses on the everyday lives of men and women at a residential ex-gay program in California, analyzes conservative Christian politics around sexual transformation and identification, evangelical conversion and testimony, and alternative forms of kinship.

For more information, contact Reyna Meyers with the Center for Religion, Law and Democracy at 503-370-6046 or rmeyers@willamette.edu

Wednesday March 4, 2009

Interfaith Energy and Climate Stewardship Advocacy Day
9:00 am to 4:00 pm
Hudson Hall, Willamette University

The first part of the day consists of advocacy training, briefings on climate and energy legislation, a panel of citizens and legislators, and keynotes by Bishop David Brauer-Rieke, Oregon Synod ELCA and a representative from Governor Ted Kulongoski’s office. After lunch, participants will visit with their legislators and return for a debriefing. The cost is $15 before February 20 and $20 after; students and seniors are $10. Scholarships available. For more information, call (503) 221-1054.

The event is sponsored by Oregon Interfaith Power and Light, a project of EMO.

Cosponsors include: Oregon Area Jewish Committee; Community Relations Committee, Jewish Federation of Greater Portland; Douglas County Global Warming Coalition; Muslim Educational Trust; First United Methodist Church, Portland; Earth Home Ministries; Portland St. John the Baptist Episcopal; Portland Fellowship House; Western Oregon University; Eco-Justice Team, Presbytery of the Cascades; St. Andrew Lutheran Church, Beaverton; Justice Commission, Ainsworth United Church of Christ; First Presbyterian Church, Portland; Benedictine Sisters of Mt. Angel; St. Philip Neri Peace and Justice Commission; Office of the Chaplains, Willamette University; Center for Religion, Law and Democracy, Willamette University.

For an archive of past events go here.