What does religious liberty mean in our increasingly pluralistic society? We explore this and more at New Wine, New Wineskins’ upcoming conference “Religious Liberty—for All.” The conference will take place on Saturday, March 14, 2020 at Multnomah University in Portland, Oregon.The question of religious liberty is a contentious one in our current culture. Often discussions of religious liberty have the connotation of applying to one religious group, but not others. What would religious liberty “for all” look like in our pluralistic society? How can Christians expect people of other faith traditions and ideological perspectives in our increasingly diverse culture to respect our desire for religious liberty if we do not respect theirs? What if Evangelical Christians were known more for being for others and to bless human flourishing than for being against those who think differently? These are exceedingly difficult and challenging questions.
Our keynote speaker is the president of the National Association of Evangelicals, Leith Anderson. He will be joined by various presenters from different faith traditions and ways of life.
Our conference hopes to:
1. Explore and consider the historical backdrop of our country’s formation and present-day complexities surrounding advocating for distinctively Christian freedom in an increasingly pluralistic society.
2. Provide a sound biblical and constitutional basis for understanding the proper relation of church and state.
3. Highlight the missional importance of promoting not only Christians’ freedoms, but everyone’s religious freedoms, including freedom from religion in America today.
4. Help all gathered to consider the prospects and problems in our day associated with the “naked public square.”
5. Address these complex ideas in relation to concrete cultural issues facing Christians and our society at large.
We hope that representatives of numerous churches and adherents of various religions—or no religion at all—will attend. You can find out more about the conference at this link.
I am thankful to my colleague Sara Mannen for her help in crafting this blog post.
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