Democracy Conference Schedule

Miriam Belli (Gordon College)
"Childlike Faith? The Past, Present, and Future of Youth Religious and Partisan Identity in America"

Americans today are demonstrating increased affinity to a political party but decreased religious alignment, with their partisan identities often trumping any religious beliefs or practices. At the same time, recent decades have shown a blurring of the lines between religious and political authority, causing many to reject religious groups because of their party associations, or vice versa. Generation Z, with its unique experience and identity as the most socially diverse generation in American history, has the power to change this trajectory. With their surprisingly growing interest in religion and spirituality, specifically the Christian faith, members of Gen Z may alter the course of religious and partisan identity in the United States. Christians and the Church should be both encouraged and mobilized by this shift, and actively and intentionally respond.
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Ella Forest (Gordon College)
"Justice for the Poor: A Reformed Critique of Liberation Theology"

While Liberation Theology rightly identifies systemic oppression as an urgent moral concern, the developed argument is insufficient theologically and reduces justice to institutional reform. In contrast, the deeper theological reflections of sin, sovereignty, and salvation are more adequately developed in the Reformed Tradition. The Reformed Tradition’s emphasis on the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of institutions and human beings fills this gap with theological sufficiency. In turn, a true sense of justice for the poor demands not simply institutional change, but a holistic response rooted in proper theological principles, institutional responsibility, and the God-ordained responsibility of the state.
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Isaac Picariello (Gordon College)
"What has Vegas to do with Washington? How the gambling industry has crept further into American democracy."

Currently, prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket are making headlines as forums for (in addition to sports betting) election gambling and political forecasting. These markets are coasting off of a complex but fascinating history. This paper unpacks what these companies are, unpacks the history of American political prediction markets, introduces the relevant arguments for and against the practice of political wagering, and highlights key things to watch for as the story of these markets continues.
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DISCUSSANTS:
Steve Alter (Gordon College, History)
Jennifer Hevelone-Harper (Gordon College, History)

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)

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)

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)

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)