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 Saturday, 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 us for a brief welcome and devotion to begin the day!

Tyler Syck (University of Pikeville)
“A Tragic Liberalism: Daniel Patrick Moynihan and the Future of American Democracy”

Daniel Patrick Moynihan is routinely dismissed as an inconsistent opportunist. This paper recovers him as a philosophically serious alternative to both interest group liberalism and its post-liberal critics. Grounding his thought in epistemic humility, Catholic subsidiarity, and suspicion of concentrated power in all its forms, Moynihan articulated a pluralist liberalism that sought to deploy state resources in ways that strengthened rather than displaced the intermediary institutions where democratic life is actually lived.
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Lynn Uzzel (Bethel University)
“Rights Endowed by the Creator”

This paper has two broad purposes: First, to show that the meaning of the word rights has evolved along a continuum over the centuries, with John Locke and Thomas Jefferson representing a similar but not identical understanding of natural rights. Second, to establish that it is philosophically impossible to arrive at the position of natural rights without presupposing a transcendent being that imposes a moral order on nature.
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Dan Young (Northwestern College-IA)
“Rereading Bernard Crick’s In Defence of Politics in 21st Century America”

Bernard Crick defined politics as a means of conciliating diverse interests in society. However, today American politics seems more of a friend/enemy contest. I use Samuel Huntington’s claim that every few decades America experiences a “creedal passion period” where discontent with American political realities as measured against its core political values is expressed with greater intensity. I speculate that such periods give rise to friend/enemy politics rather than Crick-style politics of conciliation of diverse interests. 
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DISCUSSANT
Paul Brink (Gordon College, Political Science)

Karl-Dieter Crisman (Gordon College, Mathematics)
“Ranking Controversy: Summarizing Current Research on “Ranked Choice”/Instant Runoff Voting in America”

Instant Runoff (IRV, "Ranked Choice") voting is increasingly used in the USA - from many cities, to Maine and Alaska. Conversely, Ohio just became the 19th state to ban it.  Confusingly, IRV has been characterized both as an attack on, and a savior of, democracy!

This talk introduces IRV, reviewing effects via the Begich-Palin-Peltola Alaska election.  We will summarize recent US IRV election results, with a view toward the mathematics behind both appeal and paradoxes.
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Kelly Foster (Gordon College, Art)
“The ‘Trump-Kennedy Center’ and the Contested Spatial Images of Democracy”

This paper will use the recent controversial actions related to the Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts to explore how we conceptualize our political lives through spatial imagery. Working from secular and theological aesthetics, an analysis of the architectural forms will lead to an analysis of how spatial images inform both our self-understanding and our interactions, thereby demonstrating how attending to these dynamics can help us lead more faithful lives within a liberal democracy. 
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Ya Lin Huang (Gordon College, Music)
“Beauty in the Symphony of Democracy: Music and the Global Resonance of American Independence”

In the context of the 250th anniversary of American independence, music provides a lens for understanding democracy. In his works, Tyzen Hsiao weaves together musical language and political meaning to articulate a vision of democracy grounded in Taiwanese identity. Close analysis of musical motifs, theological themes, and cultural references demonstrates how Hsiao transforms music into a vehicle for democratic expression that resonates across cultural boundaries.
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DISCUSSANT
Ian DeWeese-Boyd (Gordon College, Philosophy)

This panel explores the importance of Christian formation in a time of anxiety about democracy, deep polarization, and institutional distrust. The conversation will feature Stephanie Summers of the Center for Public Justice, Michael Wear of the Center for Christianity and Public Life, and Susan Gates of Faith and Law reflecting on the practices, virtues, and communities needed to sustain faithful public leadership today. Panelists will discuss the formative challenges facing Christians in public life and the kinds of habits, relationships, and institutional support that help cultivate leaders capable of principled, constructive civic engagement across difference.  
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Stephanie Summers (Center for Public Justice)
Michael Wear (Center for Christianity and Public Life)
Susan Gates (Faith and Law)

Christ and Covenant in Global Politics casts a compelling vision for a Christian approach to international relations that seeks to transform global politics from systems driven by fear to covenantal global community based in shared loves, drawing on Augustine’s understanding of rightly ordered loves and a contemporary Christian notion of covenantal pluralism.

This author meets critics panel will include an author presentation, critics' responses, and Q & A.
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Robert Joustra (Calvin University)
Chan Shin (Gordon College)
Stephanie Summers (Center for Public Justice)

Ryan Cowden (Gordon College)
“Desiring Democracy in a Time of Democratic Backsliding”

This paper considers the question of why professionals and concerned citizens alike should desire democratic governance arrangements that require experts to yield some of their authority to the general public. To address this question, I offer a synthesis of the works of John Dewey. Using these texts, I offer epistemic, moral, and generative arguments for democracy before considering how Dewey would respond to clashes between professionals and the public. 
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James Pingel (Concordia University Wisconsin)
“A Great ‘Two for One’: Teaching the American Revolution and God’s Word Through Biblical Devotions”

Religion has long helped shape the ideals and institutions of a democratic republic. In this panel session, Dr. Jim Pingel will present a practical, replicable framework for guiding students (or anyone) to write biblically grounded devotions rooted in historical inquiry. Using the American Revolution as a case study, participants will examine how to integrate historical content with theological examination and reflection.
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Dennis Savill (Southern Nazarene University)
“Logos in the Crucible: Biblical Epistemology and the Contest of Critical Theory in Collegiate Public Debate”

Collegiate policy debate functions as a unique intellectual laboratory in which emerging political and legal theories are refined before diffusing into broader discourse. This article argues that collegiate debate provides a microcosm for examining a deeper epistemological and ontological conflict: whether political theory is grounded in transcendent truth or in socially constructed power analysis. Drawing from the Christian doctrine of the Logos (John 1:1–4), this paper contends that logic, truth, and rational discourse are not merely procedural tools but ontologically grounded realities rooted in the divine nature. Thus, the very argumentative practices of debate presuppose metaphysical commitments often unacknowledged within secular critical frameworks.
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DISCUSSANT:
Timothy Sherratt (Gordon College)

Christians in Political Science, a national organization of political scientists from a variety of Christian faith traditions, has long provided a forum for Christian faculty and graduate students to explore the intersection of faith and politics.  More recently, CPS has been less active however, even though the subject of faith and politics is certainly as relevant as ever.  Join this conversation to help discern the future of CPS.  How might the organization be revived and strengthened?  What opportunities can we identify for future growth? 
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Paul Brink (Gordon College)
Corwin Smidt (Calvin University)
Chan Shin (Gordon College)

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 Saturday, please email our team at [email protected] so we can arrange a time for a staff member to send you off hospitably!

Tracy McKenzie (Wheaton College)
"The Founders and the Future of American Democracy”

C. S. Lewis once observed that there are only two main reasons to believe in democracy. One is because you have confidence in human nature. The other is because you don’t. Listening carefully to the Framers of the Constitution and drawing substantively from Christian theology, I suggest that Americans have long embraced democracy for the wrong reason, and that this false foundation contributes significantly to the polarization and dysfunction of U.S. democracy today.
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Response: Michael Hammond (Gordon College)