Calvin to Host Symposium on Religion and Politics

April 22, 2004 == MEDIA ADVISORY

The Paul B. Henry Institute for the Study of Christianity and Politics will
host a timely conference at the end of April.

The second Symposium on Religion and Politics will be held April 29 to May 1
at Calvin and address such topics as:

*Religion and the American Presidency
*Islam and International Politics
*Catholic Political Thought
*Religion and the American Founding
*The Pope and Political Understanding
*Religion and Politics at the State Level
*Religion and International Relations

"Religion and politics always seems to be in the news," says Corwin Smidt, a
professor of political science at Calvin and director of the Henry Institute.
"But it was often discussed at a state level or a national level. Since 9-11
we've seen religion and politics discussed on a global level. The upcoming
Symposium will treat those global implications of religion and politics and
bring some interesting discussions about how the two interact here in the U.S.
and here in Michigan.

In addition, Smidt says, religion already is playing a significant role in the
upcoming Presidential election.

"It began already in the race for the Democratic nomination," Smidt says,
"with questions about Howard Dean and the southern vote and then concerns about
Kerry's Catholicism and how that would impact his candidacy. As the general
election approaches religion is certain to become an ever more important issue
in the race for the White House."

The Symposium at Calvin opens with a reception on April 29 and then will begin
in earnest on Friday, April 30 with a series of panel discussions. One will be
on foundational views on faith and politics with presenters representing such
schools as the University of New Brunswick and Baylor University as well as the
Center for Public Justice. Another will be on the pope and political
understanding with presenters from Marquette University, the University of New
Mexico-Gallup and Eastern Michigan University.

A late-morning panel on religion and the American presidency will include
papers on Theodore Roosevelt, Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter. And a panel on
religion and politics at the state level will examine Georgia, Wisconsin,
California and Michigan.

From 1:15 to 2 p.m. on Friday conference attendees will take part in a Q&A
with Stanley Carlson-Thies (a former member of the Bush White House Office on
Faith-Based and Community Initiatives). Then they'll return to an afternoon of
panel discussions on such topics as rhetoric and American politics, including a
paper called "Holy War Rhetoric? An Analysis of Religion in George W. Bush's
Foreign Policy Speeches."

Friday's activities will conclude with a keynote lecture on "A New Christian
World: Reading the Signs of the Kingdom among Global Geopolitics" by Dr. Kwame
Bediako, Director of the Akrofi-Christaller Memorial Centre for Mission
Research and Applied Theology in Ghana, West Africa.

Another full day will follow on Saturday, including a panel on Islam and
American politics with papers on "American Muslims in the Aftermath of
September 11: Data from the Detroit Area Arab-American Study" and "The
Significance of the Muslim Vote in American Politics after 9/11."

The conference will conclude Saturday afternoon with discussions about the
role of gender in the politics of female and male protestant clergy, changing
political participation among American clergy, equal rights and religious
freedom in Canada, American Christian perspectives on U.S. foreign policy in
Israel/Palestine and religion and political alignment in the United States.

For more see

http://www.calvin.edu/henry/schedule/2004_symposium_on_religion_and_politics.htm
Received on Thu, 22 Apr 2004 13:21:39 -0400