Religion And Politics In An Age Of Fracture: Davis, Inazu, Patel

This is an event of the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics at Washington University in St. Louis. Learn more here.

This discussion series approaches the challenges arising out of divisions over religion and politics and how to bridge relationships in spite of those challenges. Please join us for one, two, or all three events. All events free and open to all.

RSVPs appreciated, but not required. Email rap@wustl.edu or call (314) 935-9345 for more information and parking instructions.

The first discussion between John Inazu and Eboo Patel will be moderated by Adrienne Davis and will take place on February 6, 2018. The second discussion will feature Eboo Patel and Ken Stern on March 6, 2018. The third discussion will feature John Inazu and Emma Green on April 3, 2018.

John Inazu is the Sally D. Danforth Distinguished Professor of Law and Religion, a dual appointment in the Washington University Law School and the Danforth Center on Religion and Politics. He teaches courses in criminal law, law and religion, and the First Amendment. His scholarship focuses on the First Amendment freedoms of speech, assembly, and religion, and related issues of political and legal theory. Inazu’s first book was Liberty’s Refuge: The Forgotten Freedom of Assembly (2012) and his second was Confident Pluralism: Surviving and Thriving Through Deep Difference (2016). He has written broadly for mainstream audiences in publications including USA Today, CNN, The Hedgehog Review, the Los Angeles Times, and The Washington Post. John has a BSE and JD from Duke University and a PhD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Eboo Patel is a leading voice in the movement for interfaith cooperation and the Founder and President of Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC), a national nonprofit working to make interfaith cooperation a social norm. He is the author of Acts of Faith (2010), Sacred Ground (2013), and Interfaith Leadership (2016). Named by US News & World Report as one of America’s Best Leaders of 2009, Patel served on President Obama’s Inaugural Faith Council. He is a regular contributor to the public conversation around religion in America and a frequent speaker on the topic of religious pluralism. For over fifteen years, Patel has worked with governments, social sector organizations, and college and university campuses to help realize a future where religion is a bridge of cooperation rather than a barrier of division. He holds a doctorate in the sociology of religion from Oxford University, where he studied on a Rhodes scholarship.

Adrienne Davis is Vice Provost and William M. Van Cleve Professor of Law at Washington University in St. Louis. Davis’s administrative duties include coordinating diversity and faculty leadership across the University. She works closely with each of the seven schools and also coordinates a suite of initiatives and programs for the Provost’s office. As a faculty member, her research and teaching focuses on private law areas such as contracts and trusts & estates, as well as legal theory and history, including slavery, feminist legal theory, and theories of justice and reparations. Davis earned her BA from Yale College and her JD from Yale Law School.