Democracy Conference Schedule

For Registered Guests (no Housing)
Please park your car or have your ride drop you off in the A.J. Gordon Chapel Parking Lot. You can find this lot on the attached Visitor Parking Map.

Then, please walk to the Ken Olsen Science Center (located about a 2-minute walk away, visible from the Chapel Parking Lot). You can view the location on the attached Campus Map. In the entryway "Loggia," you'll see the Welcome Table and our smiling Conference Staff members waiting to greet you. Please check in with them to receive your name tag and folder!

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For Guests with On-Campus Housing:
Please park your car or have your ride drop you off in the A.J. Gordon Chapel Parking Lot. You can find this lot on the attached Visitor Parking Map.

You will be staying in the dorm directly across from the Chapel Lot, Chase Hall. A Conference Staff member will be waiting to welcome you at the entrance of Chase Hall with your key card during the check-in window, 7:30-9 a.m. You can drop off your belongings, get settled, and then head to the Ken Olsen Science Center, viewable on the attached Campus Map. In the entryway "Loggia," you can pick up your name tag and folder from the Welcome Table. If you are joining us for breakfast that day, a staff member can walk you over to Lane Student Center to delight in refreshments and conversations with the other guests!

*If you anticipate needing to check in earlier than 7:30 a.m. or later than 9 a.m. on Friday, please email our team at [email protected] so we can arrange a time for a Conference Staff member to hand off your key card and show you to your room in Chase Hall. 

Join Agnes Howard for a brief welcome and devotion to begin the day.

Mitchell Bahnsen (Westmont College)
“Social Imaginaries at 250: Charles Taylor and the Tensions of Modernity”

This paper argues that America’s democratic crisis is fundamentally moral and cultural, not merely institutional. Drawing on Charles Taylor, it traces how atomism, instrumental reason, and struggles for recognition have fragmented the democratic social imaginary. Situating these tensions within Lockean liberalism’s moral roots, it contends that recovering Christian accounts of dignity can renew democratic legitimacy without undermining pluralism.
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Amen Gashaw (University of Cambridge)
"Christomorphic Pluralism: Schleiermacher’s Christ and American Religious Freedom"

Religious freedom and the pluralism it facilitates are among the founding tenets of American constitutional democracy. Yet many American Christians remain suspicious of them, fearing that protection of other faiths de-centers Christ and compromises Christian commitment. This paper challenges that assumption through Friedrich Schleiermacher's theology of the religions. His "christomorphic" model sees Christ redeeming a world of necessary religious diversity, thus offering a distinctly Christ-centered basis for resisting majoritarian constitutional erosion and appreciating the plurality of faith traditions that democracy nurtures. 
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Esther Kim (Yale Divinity School)
“Unity Amidst Difference in the Church and State: Insights from Religious Pluralism for Political Pluralism”

While political theologies have long explored how specific traditions inform public life (i.e., Christian or Islamic political theologies), far less attention has been given to how pluralist theologies can enrich the same. Yet the project of cultivating harmonious civil society across differences should appropriately draw upon pluralistic theological resources. Drawing on the work of theologians John Thatamanil, Mark Heim, and Paul Knitter, the paper argues that theological approaches to religious diversity illuminate a valuable outlook for political diversity.
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DISCUSSANT:
Micah Watson (Calvin University)

Allen Hertzke (University of Oklahoma)
“Why Religious Freedom Matters: Human Rights and Human Flourishing”

New global research powerfully links religious freedom to democracy, human rights, economic flourishing, empowerment of women, uplift for the poor, and peace.  A key finding of this research suggests that these healthy outcomes are undermined when religion is privileged by state power, not just when it is repressed. This “curse of privilege” offers cautionary lessons for Christians participating in American democracy in the 21st Century, with profound implications for the fate of global democracy.

Respondent: Judd Birdsall (Georgetown University)

This workshop consists of three members of Calvin’s Department of Politics and Economics. We will address how teaching about democracy in our subfields has changed over the last decade. We will then segue into explaining a few classroom exercises that we have adopted to engage students and end with Biblical or Reformed perspectives on faith-learning integration when discussing this topic. We will leave ample opportunity for Q&A and sharing. 

Tracy Kuperus (Calvin University)
Joel Westra (Calvin University)
Micah Watson (Calvin University)

Meidan Koresh (Bar-Ilan University)
“Democratic Stability Without Consensus: Religion, Power, and Modus Vivendi in Israel”

This study asks how democracies accommodate religious fundamentalism under conditions of ideological rigidity. It hypothesizes that consociationalism fails where mutual recognition collapses, while Modus Vivendi better explains stability. Using Israel’s conscription, Sabbath, and education conflicts as a most-difficult case, focusing on ultra-Orthodox–state relations, findings show: (1) a de facto Modus Vivendi governs these conflicts; (2) religious fundamentalism catalyzes the breakdown of consensus and the emergence of coercive, non-consensual Modus Vivendi.
Keywords: Modus Vivendi; Consociationalism; Religious Fundamentalism; Democratic Accommodation; Ideological Rigidity
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Tracy Kuperus (Calvin University) & Virginia Beard (Hope College)
“Democratic Accountability: The Role of Parachurch Civil Society Organizations in Kenya"

Civil society organizations (CSOs) play a crucial role in fostering democratic resilience. But do Kenyan parachurch CSOs (PCSOs) hold the government accountable? We investigate the mainly positive vertical, horizontal and diagonal accountability roles of the leading PCSOs in Kenya: the National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK), the Kenya Conference of Catholic Bishops (KCCB) and the Evangelical Alliance of Kenya (EAK).
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Diane Ziegler (Fuller Theological Seminary)
"Retelling the Story: Reclaiming Theological Language and Its Importance for Democracy"

This paper argues for the reclamation of theological language in our modern moment for the formation and empowerment of citizens in order to nurture and support a more just democracy. The call to language reclamation and models of equipping Christians, as found in the work of John de Gruchy, Elaine Graham, and K. H. Miskotte will be considered.
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DISCUSSANT
Dan Young (Northwestern College-IA)

Lamont Colucci (Concordia University Wisconsin)
“American Independence, Moral Order, and Democracy Promotion at 250: U.S. Foreign Policy under Moral Responsibility”

Marking the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution, this presentation examines American foreign policy and democracy promotion as a civilizational and strategic outgrowth of American independence, rooted in Christian theology and natural law. Tracing a lineage from the founding through Roosevelt, Truman, Reagan, and Bush, it argues that U.S. foreign policy integrates moral purpose with prudential action, alliance structures, and deterrence to confront authoritarian and totalitarian threats and sustain democratic order.
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Corwin Smidt (Calvin University)
“Cultural Nationalism and Satisfaction with Democracy: The American Context”

Although there have recently been considerable scholarly and journalistic discussions related to Christian nationalism, this paper focuses on the relationship between “cultural nationalism” and satisfaction with democracy (SWD) within the American context.  The analysis will be based on an examination of an April 2024 Pew survey of American adults (N=3,600). The paper will examine the extent to which the relationship between cultural nationalism and SWD holds after controlling for various other potential factors shaping SWD.
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Rachel Yoo (Gordon College)
“From Broadcast to Platforms: Journalism, Podcasts, and the Transformation of the Democratic Public Sphere”

This paper offers a framework for understanding how platform journalism is transforming the contemporary democratic public sphere. While traditional broadcast media historically operated within institutional and regulatory frameworks, the rise of digital platforms has enabled new forms of political commentary that circulate outside these constraints. The paper examines how media forms negotiate the evolving relationship among institutions, platforms, and democratic discourse, drawing on theories of the public sphere and scholarship on hybrid media systems.
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DISCUSSANT
Laura Olson (Texas Christian University)

Please visit the Welcome Table in the entryway of the Ken Olsen Science Center to return your name tag and check out with our Conference Team. (If you would like to stay for the evening's Dinner, Plenary Address, and Reception, you are welcome to wait to drop off your name tag until the evening's events conclude at 8:45 p.m.)

For Guests with On-Campus Housing:
During this 5:15–6:45 p.m. window, please gather your belongings from Chase Hall, leaving your room locked as you exit. If you will be staying for the evening's Dinner, Plenary Address, and Reception, you can store luggage in your parked car or bring it over to Ken Olsen Science Center to be stored in our luggage room until 8:45 p.m., when the evening's events conclude. Then, please visit the Welcome Table to return your name tag & key card and check out with our Conference Team!

*If you need to check out earlier than 5:15 p.m. or later than 8:45 p.m. on Friday, please email our team at [email protected] so we can arrange a time for a staff member to send you off hospitably!

Delight in a catered dinner alongside fellow conference guests.

Tal Howard (Lilly Foundation)
Conference Sponsor Welcome

Nicole Bibbins Sedaca (Bush Institute)
“Freedom in a Changing Global Landscape”

Global freedom has been in recession for two decades.  Scholars and policymakers are asking whether this recession matters, and if so, what reverses this trend.  Concurrently, the liberal world order, which was built on democratic norms, is changing rapidly, leaving open the question what will follow.  This presentation will focus on the drivers of this recession, implications for the global community, and how to think about democratic norms within the context of the changing global order. 
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Respondent: Ruth Melkonian-Hoover (Gordon College)