Speakers to Discuss a Wide Array of Perspectives Involving the Evolution of Church/State Relations in the United States

The Center for Church/State Studies at DePaul University will help commemorate the centennial year with a series of special breakfast forums designed to explore how diverse faith traditions in this country have understood their relation to the state over the last century.

The breakfast forums will be held from September 1998 through June 1999 at the Union League Club of Chicago, 65 W. Jackson Blvd. Speakers will address Protestant, Roman Catholic, Islamic, Jewish, Native-American, Orthodox Christian, Evangelical Protestant, Buddhist, Secularist and Mormon perspectives on this topic.

The list of distinguished speakers includes Martin E. Marty, a professor emeritus at the University of Chicago and director of the Public Religion Project; the Rev. Robert F. Drinan, a Jesuit priest, professor of law at Georgetown University and former U. S. Congressman; Aminah Beverly McCloud, an associate professor of Islamic Studies at DePaul; and Rabbi Samuel N. Gordon, the founding rabbi of Congregation Sukkat Shalom of Wilmette, Ill.

"As DePaul celebrates 100 years of education and service it is only fitting that the Center’s breakfast series examine the demographic and cultural forces that have encouraged religious groups in America to reevaluate their relationship to government during that century," said the Rev. Craig Mousin, executive director of the center. Mousin is both an attorney and an ordained minister with the United Church of Christ.

Speakers and topics scheduled through the end of 1998 are:

*September 10, 1998—"The Protestant Nation: Protestant Understandings of the Relationship of Church and State." This lecture will be presented by Marty, who is the author of 50 books, including "Under God, Indivisible," volume three of his Modern American Religion Series.

*October 15, 1998—"A Roman Catholic Understanding of the Relationship Between Church and State." Drinan will present this lecture. His honors include the National Humanities Medal, the National Book Award, and the Medal of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

*November 12, 1998—"Moslem Understandings of the Relationship of Church and State." McCloud, who is the author of several books on Islamic law including "Questions of Faith" and "African American Islam," will present the lecture.

*December 4, 1998—"Jewish Understandings of the Relationship of Synagogue and State." Gordon will lead this discussion. Through his congregation, he seeks to redefine the nature of the American synagogue in areas of family education, creative worship, outreach support and adult Jewish spiritual growth.

The Center for Church/State Studies is part of the DePaul College of Law. The lectures are designed to celebrate the university’s centennial academic year and to foster continuing dialogue between members of the legal, policy-making and religious constituencies of our society.

For more information, call Jennifer Donham at the Center for Church /State Studies at 312/362-8818.