April 2018 | Upcoming Events

The Spring 2018 issue of the CSRF newsletter, " Understanding Religious Freedom," is online.

All events are free and open to the public, and unless otherwise noted, are held on the campus of Virginia Wesleyan University. For more information, please contact the Center for the Study of Religious Freedom at Virginia Wesleyan University at 757.455.3129 or [email protected].

*Events held off-campus
Build That Wall: A Deist Resident, Connecticut Baptists, and Religious Freedom*
Saturday, April 7

CSRF Director Dr. Craig Wansink discusses the "wall of separation" between religion and government. No American president would claim to be against "religious freedom" per se, yet some ways in which they have understood that concept seem to have undermined basic meanings of the expression. In better understanding religious liberty and American politics today, we need to return to October 7, 1801 and January 1, 1802, to a letter correspondence between the Danbury Baptist Association of Danbury, Connecticut, and the new American President, Thomas Jefferson. Together, these odd bedfellows led America to see a "wall of separation" between religion and government as a critical starting place for reflecting on the unique religious identity of the American experiment.
 
(NOTE: Although all CSRF-sponsored events are free, the Center is not sponsoring this event. Tickets are $15 a person and go to support Historic St. Luke's Church, a very worthy cause. This 17th-century church is both the oldest church in Virginia and the oldest brick construction church in British North America.)

Disgraced Talk Back Panel*
Sunday, April 8
3:30 - 4:30 p.m.
Wells Theatre, 108 East Tazewell Street, Norfolk


Virginia Stage Company and the CSRF continue discussions about issues raised in the delectable drama Disgraced, where secrets are exposed and prejudices unearthed.  Immediately following the 2:00 p.m. Sunday matinee performance, Dr. Craig Wansink facilitates discussion with panelists who represent the diversity portrayed in the play. Panelists Dr. Tahani Amer, Mourad Amer, The Honorable Roxie Holder, and Rabbi Michael Panitz share their perspectives and insights on the tensions that arise when the dinner conversation in Disgraced turns to religion, politics, and Islamophobia. This explosive drama contains strong language, moments of violence, and powerful subject matter. It is recommended for audiences 16 and older.
 
Talk Back Panelists: Dr. Tahani Amer is a Senior Technologist at NASA Headquarters, and Mourad Amer is an Engineer Structural 3 at Newport News Shipbuilding. The Amers are members of the Mosque and Islamic Center of Hampton Roads, and are active in the Peninsula Islamic Community Center; The Honorable Roxie Holder is a District Court Judge for the 3rd Judicial District in Virginia, and Ruling Elder of the Presbyterian Church (USA); Dr. Michael Panitz is the Rabbi at Temple Israel in Norfolk.
The Botetourt Chamber Singers of the College of William and Mary*
Sunday, April 15
7:00 p.m.
Second Presbyterian Church, 7305 Hampton Boulevard, Norfolk


Please join the William & Mary Botetourt Chamber Singers for a concert featuring music of African American and Black composers (celebrating the 50th anniversary of the first African American students in residence on campus), with music by Undine Moore, Sydney Guillaume, Stacey V. Gibbs and Jeffrey Ames. 
 
The Botetourt Chamber Singers - known as the "Bots" - are a chamber choir from the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. Founded in 1974 as a select offshoot of the William and Mary Choir, it has since become a separate group, under the direction of Dr. Jamie Bartlett, that sings a variety of choral music ranging from Renaissance madrigals to traditional spirituals. 
 
Free and open to the public. For more information call Craig Wansink at 757.412.7467.
 
Sponsored by Second Presbyterian Church and the Center for the Study of Religious Freedom at Virginia Wesleyan University.
Speech, Art, and Social Justice
SALAD ON FRIDAY CELEBRATION
Friday, April 20
11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.
CSRF Office Suite, Clarke Hall


A liberal arts education brings students to see connections between classroom learning and real life issues. In encouraging that, the CSRF regularly creates project-based partnerships with VWU courses in order to help students recognize how religious freedom issues not only run through the curriculum, but also have broad impact at local, national, and global levels.
 
Join us anytime between 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. for a reception to congratulate student winners from contests in digital art and public speaking courses. ART 204 Digital Art students compete to create artistic representations of significant quotes that focus on building bridges, serving others, or reconciliation. In addition, students in three sections of COMM 222 Public Speaking develop informative speeches on something (e.g., a process, a model, an organization, daily steps or practices) that is instrumental or helpful in healing racial divisions.
How to Be Less Stupid About Race: Racism and Anti-racism in Our Classrooms and Communities
JUSTINE L. NUSBAUM LECTURE
Monday, April 23
7:00 - 8:00 p.m.
Boyd Dining Hall


In this preview of her forthcoming book, Dr. Crystal Fleming illustrates why Americans of all ethnicities are ignorant about race. She highlights how institutions and patterns of thinking systemically reinforce racial ignorance on all sides of issues, and shows how - if we are to be less "stupid" about race - we need to take concrete steps toward deeper understanding. On Friday, April 20 at noon on 89.5 WHRV-FM, Dr. Fleming is the guest on Another View, an award winning, hour-long, call-in radio talk show hosted by Barbara Hamm Lee.
 
Dr. Crystal Marie Fleming is Associate Professor of Sociology and Africana Studies at SUNY Stony Brook . She is an award-winning writer, speaker and educator committed to empowering individuals and communities with the conceptual tools needed to understand, confront and challenge white supremacy.  Her forthcoming book (Beacon Press, 2018) - How to Be Less Stupid About Race: The Essential Guide to Confronting White Supremacy - combines rigorous engagement with interdisciplinary research, no-holds barred social commentary, memoir, and humor to debunk common misconceptions about racism.
Are Religous People More Racist?
NEXUS INTERFAITH DIALOGUE
Monday, April 30
7:00 - 8:00 p.m.
Batten Student Center, Pearce Hospitality Suite


Eleven o'clock on Sunday morning is said to be the most segregated time in America. It's true that most U.S. churches are racially homogenous, but does that make them racist? In what ways has interpretation of scripture helped to perpetuate racism? How do we look at ourselves, and our faiths, self-critically and then find a way to the future? Panelists share their perspective and engage members of the audience in discussion. Panelists: Rabbi Jeffrey Arnowitz, Rabbi of Beth El Conservative Synagogue in Norfolk; Dr. Antipas Harris, Director of the Urban Renewal Center in Norfolk; The Honorable Roxie Holder, District Court Judge for the 3rd Judicial District in Virginia, and Ruling Elder of the Presbyterian Church (USA); and Rev. Jack Howell, Pastor of Trinity Presbyterian Church in Norfolk (PCA).
 
Issues of race divide Americans and people of faith in a variety of ways. This spring, the Nexus Interfaith Dialogue series focuses on racial issues that too frequently go undiscussed.
 
Nexus is sponsored in partnership with the Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities.
The spring series is also in partnership with HUBB (Hands United Building Bridges), a multi-faith clergy group which was launched in May of 2015 by Rabbi Jeffrey Arnowitiz (Congregation Beth El) and Dr. Antipas Harris (Urban Renewal Center) as a response to racial tensions in our nation.
Center for the Study of Religious Freedom
 
Dr. Craig Wansink, Professor of Religious Studies and the Joan P. and Macon F. Brock, Jr. Director of the Center for the Study of Religious Freedom

Kelly Jackson, Associate Director of the Center for the Study of Religious Freedom

Dr.  Eric Mazur, Gloria and David Furman Professor of Judaic Studies and Center for the Study of Religious Freedom Fellow for Religion, Law, and Politics