Events

NAVIGATING RACE & RELIGION IN THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION The Public Rights/Private Conscience Project: Racial Justice Program Winter 2017 Convening By Invitation On March 3, 2017 the Racial Justice Project of the Public Rights/Private Conscience Project will be holding a convening at Columbia Law School, bringing together scholars and advocates of racial justice and religious liberty to consider the relation these two domains of scholarly and advocacy work have to one another - particularly as we brace ourselves for a period in which we will surely see an increase in efforts designed to undermine racial justice along with an increase in efforts devoted to the expansion of religious liberty. The incoming presidential administration—and quite possibly the federal judges that it plans to appoint—is committed to broadening the right to religious accommodations/exemptions while limiting other civil rights and liberties. In the face of this agenda, the Public Rights/Private Conscience Project wants to give extra care to the strategies we pursue in addressing these efforts to use religious liberty as a vehicle to deny or limit other fundamental rights to equality and liberty. As our analyses of these efforts keeps apace with their expansion, we want to make sure to avoid inadvertently using legal arguments or rhetoric that may harm our allies who are fighting for racial justice and other fundamental rights. This convening will address three tensions between the law and policy of religion and race. In doing so, we aim to provide support to academics and advocates in the fields of religious liberty and racial justice as they work together towards a common goal of full and equal citizenship.