Our Vision
The Center for Religion, Culture, and Democracy envisions democratic societies which affirm the essential role of religious convictions, peoples, and institutions in cultivating free communities where all people can flourish.
Religion
Involving obligations to the divine and others, religion is not merely a private matter. Belief and unbelief have social, political, and cultural consequences.
Culture
In its most comprehensive sense, culture includes everything resulting from human action, flowing from transcendent duties and formed by political realities.
Democracy
At its best, democracy respects the dignity of human beings and the rights of citizens, including self-determination, expression, and representation.
CRCD Programs
Our student programs are designed to provide transformative intellectual and spiritual formation. We equip students with the needed knowledge and convictions to pursue their vocational callings and practice their faith in the public square.
Shaftesbury Fellowship
The Shaftesbury Fellowship’s rigorous curriculum consists of weekly readings and discussions on topics such as:
- natural law and natural rights
- the origins and nature of religious liberty
- the proper relationship between church and state in a Constitutional republic
- the place of the nation-state in the modern world
- church, economy, and civil society
- global dimensions of religious freedom
Become a fellow and you’ll be paired with a faculty member or professional mentor, who will provide guidance as you develop a publishable research article on a relevant topic of your interest.
D.C. Fellowship
Be a part of a select cohort of talented students who aspire to meaningful careers in the law for this formative five-day program.
When you join us in D.C., you will learn all about the foundations of the law—its origins, role in society, and history. Students will discuss the American constitutional history and jurisprudence with leading scholars and practitioners.
Savannah Seminar
The CRCD’s Savannah Seminar on religion, culture & democracy provides students the opportunity to explore a wide range of topics related to the American founding, democratic ideals, and the important role that religious ideas and institutions play in the development of free and flourishing societies.
Savannah is an appropriate venue for the CRCD’s Seminar on democratic ideals, as it embodied early American experiments in pluralism, religious liberty, and civil society. During the course of this five-day event, participants will enjoy interactive seminars, see the historic areas of the city on guided tours, and develop lasting friendships with peers and mentors.
News & Events
Fellows and staff are at work facilitating scholarship and events you care about. Join us at an event or share an article to become part of the CRCD mission.
FLI Educational Tour | Boston, MA (7/3-7/25)
Reading Wheel Review
The Reading Wheel Review (RWR) is an initiative designed to anchor sustained attention to books that truly matter, and to shape a substantive dialogue around them.
Currently Reading:
The Federalist
By: Publius (Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison)