Publications

Category: Policy or Legislative

Document Type: Transcript

Panelists Include:

Richard Nathan, Director of The Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute Of Government and The Roundtable on Religion and Social Welfare Policy

Ira C. Lupu, F. Elwood and Eleanor Davis Professor of Law, George Washington University and Co-Director of Legal Research, The Roundtable on Religion and Social Welfare Policy

J. David Kuo, Deputy Director of The White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives Congressman Chet Edwards, (D-Texas, 11th District)

Rebecca Rees, Legal Counsel, The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty

Elliott M. Mincberg, Vice-President, General Counsel and Legal and Education Policy Director, People for the American Way Foundation

Robert Tuttle, Professor of Law at George Washington Law University Law School and Co-Director of Legal Research, The Roundtable on Religion and Social Welfare Policy

Welcome

RICHARD NATHAN: Good morning. My name is Dick Nathan, and I have the honor of being the director of the Nelson Rockefeller Institute of Government, the public policy research arm of the State University of New York. We're located in Albany, and one of our major activities, inaugurated one and one-half years ago with the support from The Pew Charitable Trusts, is The Roundtable on Religion and Social Welfare Policy. We have a distinguished panel this morning to discuss important aspects and viewpoints on what essentially is a new subject. Because of the bully pulpit of the presidency and the interests of many political leaders in the country, it is a very important subject concerning the role of churches and faith-based groups in relation to government, and particularly in social policy. The Roundtable is an independent, nonpartisan program designed to help people understand this important new subject and its roots in our legal system and our Constitution, and particularly in the First Amendment. My job today is easy. I get to introduce Professor Ira "Chip" Lupu, who is one of our main partners in this important work, and then I'm going to turn the program over to him to be the moderator of this panel, which is being webcast live and will be available widely on our very active website on religion and social policy. Chip Lupu is the Elwood and Eleanor Davis Professor of Law at George Washington University School of Law. He has a B.A. degree from Cornell and is a graduate of Harvard Law School, where he was case editor of the Harvard Law Review. After practicing law in Boston, he joined the faculty of Boston University where he taught and was professor-in-residence on the appellate staff of the civil division of the United States Department of Justice. He joined the faculty of George Washington University in 1990. He is a nationally recognized scholar in constitutional law, with an emphasis in his writings on the religious clauses of the First Amendment. Along with his colleague, Bob Tuttle - you’ll be hearing from him - he is engaged in long-term research on the constitutional status of religious institutions, and we are proud to have George Washington University, Chip Lupu and Bob Tuttle, as our partners in this important work. So now I'm going to turn the program over to Professor Lupu.

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The Roundtable on Religion and Social Welfare Policy
Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government

411 State Street, Albany, NY 12203.
Phone: (518) 443-5014 | Fax: (518) 443-5705
Copyright 2008