“Religiously Incorrect? Public Faith in a Pluralistic World”
September 15–16, 2005
Speakers
Nancy T. Ammerman, one of the leading scholars of American religious life, is Professor of the Sociology of Religion at Boston University’s School of Theology. Dr. Ammerman has spent much of the last decade studying American congregations, and previously did extensive work on conservative religious movements. She served on the panel of experts convened by the U.S. Departments of Justice and Treasury to make recommendations in light of the government’s confrontation with the Branch Davidians at Waco, testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on the same subject, and lectured in Israel under sponsorship of the U.S. State Department. Among her many important books are the recent Pillars of Faith: American Congregations and their Partners (2005), Congregation and Community (1997), and Bible Believers: Fundamentalists in the Modern World (1987).
Stephen L. Carter, recognized as one of America’s leading public intellectuals, is the William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Law at Yale University. The author of seven critically acclaimed nonfiction books on law, ethics and politics, he has helped shape the national debate on issues ranging from the role of religion in our politics and culture to the role of integrity and civility in our daily lives. Professor Carter is a trustee of the Aspen Institute, for whom he has moderated seminars for business executives on the role of values in leadership. He has written two books on the the role of values in business and public life (Civility and Integrity). Carter has written several books on the complex relationship between religion, law, politics and government, including the landmark book The Culture of Disbelief. He has also written on affirmative action, and served as a law clerk for two of the great veterans of the civil rights movement, Judge Spottswood W. Robinson, III, of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, and Justice Thurgood Marshall of the U.S. Supreme Court.
Floyd Flake is Senior Pastor of the 20,000 member Greater Allen A.M.E. Cathedral in Jamaica, New York, and President of Wilberforce University in Ohio. During Flake’s 29-year pastorate, Greater Allen has become one of the nation’s foremost Christian churches and development corporations and, along with its subsidiaries, operates with an annual budget of over $34 million and net assets valued at over $100 million. The church also owns expansive commercial and residential developments, social service enterprises, and a 500-student private school founded by Flake and his wife Elaine. Flake served eleven years in the U.S. Congress and was a member of the Banking and Finance and Small Business Committees. Flake has authored a best-selling book, The Way of the Bootstrapper: Nine Action Steps for Achieving Your Dreams, and other works.
Joan Gottschall Judge Joan Gottschall is a United States District Judge for the Northern District of Illinois. She has been an attorney with the Office of Legal Counsel at the University of Chicago; a partner at Jenner & Block; and a staff attorney with the Federal Defender Program. She is a member of the Visiting Committee, and a member of the Board of Directors of the Martin Marty Center, at the Divinity School of the University of Chicago. She is a member of the American Bar Association, the Chicago Bar Association, and the North Shore Choral Society. She has a B.A. cum laude from Smith College and a J.D. from Stanford Law School.
Wendell Griffen Judge Wendell L. Griffen was appointed to the Arkansas Court of Appeals in 1995. Prior to his appointment, he was a partner in the Little Rock law firm of Wright, Lindsey, and Jennings, and was appointed by Governor William Clinton as Chairman of the Arkansas Workers’ Compensation Commission. He previously served as a member and Associate Editor of the Arkansas Law Review and was the first recipient of the Silas Hunt Memorial Justice Award. Judge Griffen is an ordained Baptist minister and former pastor who has written on issues of religion and law.
Robert Henry Judge Robert H. Henry was appointed by President
William Clinton to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth
Circuit in
1994. Prior to his appointment, he served as Dean and Professor
of
Law at the Oklahoma City University School of Law.
Judge Henry also has experience in private practice and
in state
government, having served as Attorney General of Oklahoma
and
in the Oklahoma House of Representatives.
William Pryor Judge William Holcombe Pryor, Jr. was the former attorney general of the State of Alabama from 1997 to 2004, and presently serves as a federal appeals court judge on the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Born on April 26, 1962, in Mobile, Alabama, and raised as a devout Roman Catholic, Pryor earned his B.A. from Northeast Louisiana University in 1984 and his J.D. from Tulane University School of Law in 1987, where he served as editor-in-chief of the Tulane Law Review. Pryor served as a law clerk to Judge John Minor Wisdom of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit from 1987 to 1988. From 1988 to 1995, he worked as a private attorney, also serving as adjunct professor at the Cumberland School of Law at Samford University (1989–95). From 1995 to 1997, he served as Alabama deputy attorney general, and became Alabama attorney general, and the youngest state attorney general at the time, in 1997. Pryor was nominated by President Bush on April 9, 2003, to the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. During the confirmation process in the U.S. Senate, many Democrats criticized him for his comments regarding homosexuality and abortion, as well as for what they described as his extreme right-wing views and reputation as a conservative ideological warrior who lacked the temperament to avoid being an “activist” judge. Pryor’s nomination was prevented by a Democratic filibuster from being put to a vote. He was installed as judge on February 20, 2004, during the Congress’s recess period, bypassing the Senate confirmation process. Pryor resigned as attorney general that same day and took his judicial oath for a term lasting until the end of 2005. On June 9, 2005, he was confirmed to the 11th Circuit by a 53–45 vote in the Senate. He received his commission on June 10, 2005, and was sworn in to his new lifetime judicial position on June 20, 2005.
Mike Volkema is Chairman and CEO of Herman Miller, consistently named by Fortune magazine as the nation’s most-admired furniture company. The company has a far-reaching reputation for enlightened people practices and employee ownership and participation. It is also well-known for helping people to create great places to work, learn, and heal. Herman Miller has been cited among the leaders in all industries for innovation and social responsibility. In addition, Business Ethics magazine lists Herman Miller among the Top 15 in its annual ranking of the “100 Best Corporate Citizens.” Industry Week magazine has selected Herman Miller to be among its 100 Best-Managed Manufacturing Companies in the world.