Date: September 13, 2017 @ 10:30 AM – 12:15 PM

Venue: The Brookings Institution, 1775 Massachusetts Ave., NW. Washington, DC 20036, USA

Deep and increasingly bitter polarization along partisan, ideological, and religious lines seems to have become the norm in today’s America. This polarization has left many Americans feeling they share little to no common ground with their neighbors. The public discourse around the right to freedom of religion—and its role in protecting people of all faiths, or no faith—is illustrative of contemporary social division. Many fear that if this development continues, the shared understanding of Americans’ basic freedoms and rights will be threatened.

On September 13, Brookings will host a discussion with the American Charter Project on the vital role that religious pluralism and freedom of religion and conscience play in fostering civility and unity in our democratic republic. The event will convene leading thinkers of diverse viewpoints in a dialogue on present-day threats to our nation’s critical freedoms and to civil public discourse. How can a basis be restored for reasonable people to disagree publicly, even on questions of fundamental importance? At a time of increasing social strife, how can we forge a basis of mutual understanding and respect that enables us to live together with our deepest differences?

After the keynote address, a panel will follow and panelists will take audience questions.

Keynote address

• John J. DiIulio, Jr., Frederic Fox Leadership Professor of Politics, Religion, and Civil Society and Professor of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania; Former Director, White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives

Panel Discussion

• William A. Galston (Moderator), Ezra K. Zilkha Chair, Senior Fellow, Governance Studies, The Brookings Institution
• Joshua DuBois, CEO – Values Partnerships Former Executive Director, Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships – The White House
• David Gregory, Political Analyst – CNN Author – “How’s Your Faith?: An Unlikely Spiritual Journey”
• Katrina Lantos Swett, President – Lantos Foundation for Human Rights & Justice Former Commissioner and Chair – U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom
• Russell Moore, President – The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention

Source: The Brookings Institution