Center for Law and Public Policy Conference and Dinner on Capitol Hill

Tuesday, April 30, was a busy day for the WAU Center for Law and Public Policy and the WAU Branson Fellows. It began with a full-day symposium titled ‘Evangelicals and Politics: Current Issues in Historical Perspective’ and finished with a dinner on Capitol Hill at the Dirksen Senate Building sponsored by the North American Division’s Office of Public Affairs and Religious Liberty.

The symposium was a chance to bring together scholars of law, religion, and history to engage with Christian lawyers, policy activists, an church leaders to discuss current questions of public policy and the evangelical world. The symposium was sponsored by the Center for Law and Public Policy and Liberty Magazine a featured distinguished scholars from Baylor University, the University of Leicester, Washington Adventist University, the General Conference, the North American Division, and more.

“Far too often, the ivory tower of academic reflection is removed from the hurly-burly of actual policy-making. But ideally, the best scholarship is in touch with the realities on the ground; and the best activism draws on the latest insights that scholarship has to offer,” said Nicholas Miller, Professor of Law and Religion and Co-director of the Center for Law and Public Policy. “More is at stake than any particular policy position or proposal and this symposium is an attempt to broaden the discussion a little bit.”

WAU Branson Fellows were deeply involved with the conference and two students, Junior Shea Standish and Senior Ajeya Watson, moderated panel discussion.

Later that evening, the Branson Fellows, along with Professors Miller and Jonathan Scriven, attended a dinner on Capitol Hill that featured a keynote address by United States Senator Susan Collins (R-ME). Senator Collins praised the Seventh-day Adventist church for its work on religious liberty issues. The dinner was also a chance to award a number of individuals for their work in the area of religious liberty. Awardees included Todd McFarland, Deputy General Counsel for the General Conference and Alan Reinach, Executive Director and Genera Councel of the Church State Council and Director of the PARL Office for Pacific Union Conference.

The Center for Law and Public Policy is housed within the Honors College of Washington Adventist University. For more information, please contact HYPERLINK “mailto:nmiller@wau.edu”nmiller@wau.edu or HYPERLINK “mailto:jscriven@wau.edu”jscriven@wau.edu.