Faithful Citizenship and the 2016 Election

One month before the 2016 election, Yale Divinity School brought together a leading Christian theologian, one of the country’s pre-eminent pastors, and a U.S. senator for a panel conversation at the National Press Club on “Faithful Citizenship and the 2016 Election.”

Appearing on the panel were Miroslav Volf, founding director of the Center for Faith and Culture at YDS; Otis Moss III ’94 M.Div., senior pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago; and Chris Coons ’92 M.A.R., a U.S. senator from Delaware. Indira Lakshmanan, a prominent Washington-based journalist, moderated.

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“This political campaign has placed values—moral values—in high relief,” said event host Greg Sterling, the Dean of Yale Divinity School. “As Americans, we believe in the separation of church and state. However, we don’t believe the separation of the church from the state should mean the isolation of the church from the state.

“We believe churches need to be places to debate and resolve, to the extent possible, the moral values that affect some of the crucial decisions that confront us,” Sterling said, listing such issues as the environment, racism, and violence.

Read the new issue of YDS’ Reflections magazine - “Spirit and Politics: Finding Our Way.”

October 10, 2016