Nine-branched Menorah used during celebration of the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah.

Center for the Study of Religious Freedom

Center for the Study of Religious Freedom
Phone 757.455.3129
Fax 757.455.2110

 

2006-2007 Programs

One Love Festival - A World Peace International Music & Arts Extravaganza

Saturday, September 9, 2006, 7:00 - 11:00 p.m.

Boyd Dining Center, Virginia Wesleyan College

Demonstrating a model of unity in diversity, removing barriers, opening a way toward understanding, cultivating new friendships, and fostering a closer interfaith community.

Co-sponsors include the Hampton Roads Newwork for Nonviolence, SGI-USA Buddhist Community, Unitarian Church of Norfolk Social Justice Committee, and Virginia Beach Friends Meeting.

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Church and State: Where Are We Now? A Religious Freedom Roundtable

Thursday, September 21, 2006, 7:30 - 9:00 p.m.
Boyd Dining Center, Virginia Wesleyan College

A distinguished panel of experts in law and religion will discuss recent developments affecting religious freedom and the relationship of church and state. Topics include:

· U.S. Supreme Court rulings on religious freedom
· The Pennsylvania “Intelligent Design” case and related developments
· Impact of national security policy
· Faith-based initiatives and church-state relations
· Sectarian religious expression in the military
· Prayer in state legislatures and local governing bodies

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Nexus Interfaith Dialogue Series: Critical Issues in Islam Today

Mondays, September 18, 2006, November 13, 2006, February 12, 2007, and April 16, 2007; 7:30 - 9:00 p.m.
Boyd Dining Center

The 2006-2007 Nexus Interfaith Dialogue series will explore "Critical Issues in Islam Today." The world situation has thrust Islam into the forefront of American consciousness as never before.  This reality creates opportunities for education and dialogue, but also opens the door to misunderstanding and prejudice.  These programs will address some of today’s most critical issues facing Islam and non-Muslim perceptions of Islam.

The series is sponsored by the Center for the Study of Religious Freedom, the Tidewater Chapter of The National Conference for Community and Justice (NCCJ), The Virginian-Pilot, and Cox Communications.

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Legislative Prayer, Pledging "Under God," and other "Ceremonial Public Religious Expressions

Thursday, October 19, 2006, 11:00 a.m.
Shafer Room, Boyd Dining Center

Should legislatures open their sessions with prayer?  Is it proper to link loyalty to country with loyalty to God?  What are the religious and constitutional issues?  Conversation introduced and facilitated by Dr. Michael Panitz, Rabbi of Temple Israel in Norfolk and Adjunct Professor at VWC, and Dr. Paul Rasor, CSRF Director.

This program is part of the ongoing CSRF Brown-Bag Conversation series.

 

Cookson Lecture: Dr. Martin Marty

Thursday, October 26, 2006, 7:30 p.m.
Boyd Dining Center, Virginia Wesleyan College Martin Marty

“Theo-cracies, Demo-cracies, and Other -cracies

 

Dr. Martin E. Marty, one of the world’s more renowned and respected religious scholars, will speak on the theme “Theo-cracies, Demo-cracies, and Other -cracies,” exploring the implications of an impulse toward theocracy that has recently resurfaced in America. This event will inaugurate the annual Cookson Religious Freedom Lecture

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Scripture Unread: The Bible as a Prop in Contemporary American Church-State Challenges

Thursday, November 9, 2006, 11:00 a.m., repeated at 7:30 p.m.
Shafer Room, Boyd Dining Center

Craig Wansink

The Bible – as an artifact – has great symbolic value, even when people do not read it.  This talk focuses on uses and abuses of the Bible and on church-state issues that emerge when the Bible is used as a prop in public discussion. Public lecture by Dr. Craig Wansink, Batten Professor of Religious Studies, Virginia Wesleyan College.

 

Creationism, Evolution and Intelligent Design:
Religion and Science in the Public Schools

A six-part symposium, February 1 - March 8, 2007
The past few years have seen a flurry of challenges to teaching evolution in public school science classes. Despite recent defeats of “intelligent design” in the courts and the legislatures, this issue is not likely to disappear. The American public remains deeply divided about the creation and evolution of life and about the way these are taught in the public schools. These matters go to the heart of public education in the United States, raising critical issues of law and politics, science and religion, and educational policy. This Symposium will explore these issues from a range of perspectives and offer a framework for thinking about them.

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Checks and Imbalances: The President, Congress and the Courts in the Post 9/11 World

Saturday, November 11, 2006, 3:00 p.m.
Boyd Dining Hall

A panel discussion on presidential powers during times of crisis, featuring William Van Alstyne, Lee Professor of Law at William and Mary Law School, Julian G. Ku, visiting professor at William and Mary Law School; moderated by Joel Rubin. Sponsored by the League of Women Voters of South Hampton Roads, the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia, and the Center for the Study of Religious Freedom.

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Blue Lias, or The Fish Lizard’s Whore

Thursday, March 29, 2007, 7:30 p.m. Claudia Stevens as Mary Anning praying
Hofheimer Theater

 

A new one-woman musical play, created and performed by Claudia Stevens, portraying 19th century English paleontologist Mary Anning reflecting on her scientific discoveries within the context of religious doctrine and emerging evolutionary theory.  Followed by audience discussion.

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Clarence Darrow, a One-Man Play

Thursday, April 12, throuth Sunday, April 15, 2007
Performances: Thursday - Saturday, 8:00 p.m.; Sunday, 2:00 p.m.
Hofheimer Theater

Center Director Paul Rasor presents the one-man drama "Clarence Darrow," by David W. Rintels, based on the Irving Stone biography Clarence Darrow for the Defense.

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