By Sheryl Swingley—
MUNCIE, IN—The League of Women Voters of Muncie-Delaware County will sponsor a day-long First Amendment Conference examining the relationships of church and state from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 22, at Cornerstone for the Arts.
The program is free and open to the public. Registration includes a free lunch, which will be catered by The Culinary Cottage. To register, go to the League’s website, lwvmunciedelaware.org, and scroll down to “Upcoming Events.”
The event is being funded by the Patsy Donn Fund of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Muncie.
“The fund’s support of this event will help encourage interdenominational and community members’ discussions about the separation of church and state as mentioned in the First Amendment in the U.S. Constitution,” said Linda Hanson, president of the Indiana League of Women Voters and spokesperson for the Muncie-Delaware County League. “We want to set a standard for how to talk about very difficult topics in constructive ways.”
The keynote speaker is a nationally recognized authority on the separation of church and state. He is Bruce Gourley, editor of the publication Church and State, the national publication of the Washington, D.C.-based organization of Americans United for the Separation of Church and State.
Gourley’s topic will be “Contested First Amendment History: The Story of Church-State Separation.” The title is similar to one for a four-week course he recently taught to 82 people. Among the group of people taking this course were liberals, progressives, moderates, conservatives, and libertarians, and they kept coming back to the class week after week.
Some reviews of Gourley follow:
“I’m really enjoying your series … You have a gift for spotting the important information in the lives of people and popularizing it in a way that is both fascinating and understandable.” From a reader
“Bruce is one of a kind – engaging, knowledgeable, professional, friendly and just a super instructor.” From a student
“Gourley’s detailed research … demonstrates how effective and informatively finely grained analysis can be. …” From The Historian
Gourley is an American history historian with a Ph.D. from Auburn University. He has published nine books and numerous journal articles, magazine articles and books chapters on a variety of topics on and in addition to the relationship of church and state. Other topics include American religion, Christian Nationalism, the colonial era, the Civil War and presidents. He teaches Osher Lifelong Learning Institute courses at Montana State University.
A panel discussion featuring local residents will follow Gourley’s keynote speech with round table discussions concluding the conference.
The League of Women Voters is a nonpartisan, grassroots organization working to protect and expand voting rights and ensure everyone is represented in the country’s democracy.
The League, since its founding in 1920, strives to empower voters and defend democracy through advocacy, education, and litigation at the local, state and national levels.
In addition, the League never supports or opposes political parties or candidates. Instead, it takes positions on issues that affect voters. Positions might align with a party or a candidate at times but diverge at other times. The League’s focus is always on policies and measures that serve the public interest – not party affiliation.
The League of Women Voters Education Fund and local leagues work to register and inform voters through the election resources of VOTE411.org and candidate forums.
