This fall, Episcopal Divinity School (EDS) partnered on two initiatives with The Law, Rights & Religion Project (LRRP), a law and policy center based at Columbia Law School that promotes freedom of religion, religious pluralism, and social justice. On October 5th, EDS and LRRP hosted an online seminar: Protecting Religious Liberty & LGBTQ+ Rights. EDS and LRRP also launched their Black Religious Liberty Curriculum—a new 12-part video series featuring 24 scholars in conversation about the intersection of race, religion, and the law.
The Rev. Dr. Patrick S. Cheng, Episcopal priest, seminary professor, and attorney, and Elizabeth Reiner Platt, Esq, Director of LRRP, co-hosted the recent Protecting Religious Liberty & LGBTQ+ Rights seminar. The seminar explored how faith leaders can protect both religious liberty and LGBTQ+ rights by providing an overview of the current landscape of religious liberty law in the United States, discussing the intersections of religious liberty and queer theology, and offering practical resources for faith leaders to engage these issues in their local contexts.
“LGBTQ+ rights are actually an extension and feature of religious liberty,” shared seminar guest speaker Mr. Juan Perla, partner at Curtis Law Firm, “and that’s because many LGBTQ+ people understand their identities through the lens of faith.” Highlights from the Protecting Religious Liberty & LGBTQ+ Rights seminar will be featured in an upcoming episode of EDS’ Just Conversations Podcast.
In addition to the seminar, EDS also partnered with the LRRP to support their Black Religious Liberty Curriculum, which launched on September 24, 2024. This curriculum, which includes both a 12-part video series and a discussion guide, explores the topic of religious liberty through the experiences of Black religious communities. An EDS statement in the curriculum discussion guide explains its importance: “The right to religious freedom is intricately interwoven with other struggles for justice. As White Christian Nationalism continues to ascend, we need robust, theologically-grounded, distinctively Christian framings of religious liberty that honor diversity and insist on equal protections for all people under the law. This curriculum is a resource, guide, and critical step in that endeavor.” The Black Religious Liberty Curriculum is free and available to the public.
Click here to learn more about The Law, Rights & Religion Project. Click here to learn more about the Episcopal Divinity School.