A robust understanding of culture and a sophisticated grasp of the changing nature of political power require that we consider how religion is embedded in any given cultural moment. We believe that when people understand the vital, but often unacknowledged, role religion plays in shaping political institutions and policies, and different publics’ responses to them, we gain tools to make better-informed decisions about our public life and the common good in diverse societies like the United States. To this end, we seek to collaborate with government officials at the local, state, and national levels to strengthen religious literacy in our nation’s most vital civic institutions in service of just peace. We provide skills-training through courses, executive education, mentoring, and internships for HDS students preparing for careers in public service and for government professionals.
In so doing, we endeavor to answer critical questions about the ways in which religion and governance intersect, surfacing assumptions about religion and different religious communities that can shape secular-defined government institutions and result in misinformed policymaking, developing greater awareness of how government decision-making can sensitively and legally attend to the needs specific to diverse communities, and considering the opportunity for the process of policy making itself to be more sensitive and adept in attending to the work of justice-making in an inclusive manner. As the country grows increasingly more polarized, with policymaking from the local to the national level serving as a lightning rod to drive communities apart and threaten our democratic institutions and civic culture, this work has become urgent.