The national debate surrounding religion and politics rages on daily, with mud-slinging coming from both sides of the issue and everywhere in between.

This week, the debate takes center stage at Syracuse University. The Religion and Society Program in the department of religion will present a symposium entitled ‘Religion and Politics in America: Looking Back at 2004 and Looking Ahead.’

The symposium was due to begin on Monday at 7 p.m. with guest speaker Richard Land, but due to flight delays his speech had to be cancelled. Land is the president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention. There are no plans for him to stay on tomorrow and join any of the other events.

Several members of the audience that gathered to hear him speak in Studio A in Newhouse II were disappointed to hear that Land would not be able to make it.

‘Why did they make us sit here?’ questioned Gabe Rodriguez, a junior television, radio and film major. ‘They should have put up a sign saying it was cancelled.’

Rodriguez, a member of Campus Crusade, said his interest was piqued when he heard the symposium dealt with religion because he is a religion minor. He added that it was especially timely because religion played such a crucial part in the ’04 election.

The election will be a hot topic of discussion during tomorrow’s events, which will begin at noon in the 1619 room of the Bird Library. The election discussion will include an academic panel called ‘How Religious Groups Vote,’ featuring statistical data from the most recent election.

‘One thing that was a subject of enormous discussion (during the election) was how would religious conservatives vote, and in what numbers?’ said Gustav Neibuhr, associate professor of religion and the media. He added that the symposium was planned before the election, but in the time since then it has become increasingly obvious that such an event was needed.

The events will continue at 2 p.m. in room 262, the Bartlett Room, in Newhouse II, with a journalists’ panel on ‘Covering Religion and Politics.’ The panel will include Barbara Bradley Hagerty, religion correspondent with National Public Radio, Adelle Banks, a reporter with Religion News Service and Newhouse News Service and Deborah Caldwell of Beliefnet.com.

At 7:30 p.m. the second keynote speaker, The Rev. Barry Lynn, will discuss the separation of church and state.

‘I think there is this growing awareness of the importance of religious groups as political players,’ Neibuhr said, who is also the director of the Religion and Society Program. ‘And this became all the more important after the election.’

Neibuhr will facilitate the speaker tomorrow night in an interview-like setting. He chose to conduct the symposium this way so current topics could be addressed, and hopes the Terry Schiavo feeding tube controversy will be one of the topics.

‘It (Schiavo) will be, provided they want to go there.’ Neibuhr said. ‘I don’t see why they wouldn’t.’

Neibuhr said the panelists and speakers are all very provocative and should be very interesting to the university community. He knows six of them personally, and feels the research they have done, and constituents they represent, will provide insight into the issues relating to religion and politics.

Lynn, who will speak in Studio A in Newhouse II, received his bachelor’s degree from Dickinson College in Carlisle, Penn., and his theology degree from Boston University School of Theology. He is an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ and a member of the Washington, D.C. bar; he received his law degree from Georgetown University Law Center. He is a longtime activist on issues of church and state, and will address this during his talk tonight, which is entitled ‘Has the Wall Separating Church and State been Breached?’

‘I think it’s pretty clear after being here for four years that SU brings people of a high caliber,’ said Selena Saldana, a senior broadcast journalism major and member of Neibuhr’s advanced reporting class. ‘I trust that they would bring someone who has something to say.’

IF YOU GO:

What: Religion and Society Program: ‘Religion and Politics in America: Looking Back at 2004 and Looking Ahead.’ Featuring Barbara Bradley Hagerty, Adelle Banks, Deborah Caldwell and The Rev. Barry Lynn.

When: Today, noon, 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

Where: The 1619 room of the Bird Library, the Bartlett Room, in Newhouse II and Studio A in Newhouse II

Published on March 28, 2005 at 12:00 pm