Speakers to Discuss Religious Pluralism

Faced with an ever-changing and increasingly fragmented religious and civil landscape in the U.S., the “challenge today is to develop a principled pluralism where liberty is linked to a structurally pluralistic social vision that encourages independent spheres of society,” says Rev. Jul Medenblik, president of Calvin Seminary. 

Medenblik will be one of the speakers taking part on Thursday, April 24 in “Principled Pluralism: Navigating America’s Increasingly Diverse Religious Landscape,” an-open ended conversational panel discussion co-sponsored by the Aspen Institute and the Kaufman Interfaith Institute.

A  focus of the discussion, set to take place in the Calvin Covenant Fine Arts Center auditorium,  will be the “Report of the Inclusive America Project" that the Aspen Institute released in June 2013.

Members of the panel will discuss relations between people of faith in an era in which church membership is dropping, loyalty to denominations in on the wane and various non-Christian or Jewish traditions have become part of the religious marketplace.

They are also likely to address how members of the Christian Reformed Church, as well as members of other denominations and faith groups, can find common political and religious ground in today’s fluid society.

Reformed Christians can learn much in addressing this issue by following the Kuyperian tradition, which “includes an understanding that a free and just society includes spheres of society with their own sphere sovereignty is one that can inform our current situation,” says Medenblik.

“Calvinists do not desire a theocracy where any one church or religious system is in control, but we do want to develop a society that will recognize and protect the spheres of family, business, science, art and other social spheres so that they may develop.”

Besides Medenblik, the panel will feature Michael Le Roy, president of Calvin College and Alec Hill, president of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship.

Joseph DeMott, who serves as project manager of the Inclusive America Project, will moderate the discussion.

“Our society is becoming increasingly diverse, and our world is becoming increasingly interconnected. As a result, members of different religions interact with one another more than ever before,” said DeMott.

“I think now is an important time for people of faith to reflect on how to build respectful, productive relationships across religious and denominational lines without diluting their own core beliefs.”

He said the the Aspen Institute’s Inclusive America Project examines religious diversity in five key sectors: youth development organizations, higher education, media, religiously affiliated organizations and government agencies.

Register for the event which is free and open to the public.

A recently released survey by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life details statistics on religion in America and explores the shifts taking place in the U.S. religious landscape. Based on interviews with more than 35,000 Americans age 18 and older, the U.S. Religious Landscape Survey finds that religious affiliation in the U.S. is both very diverse and extremely fluid.

More than one-quarter of American adults have left the faith in which they were raised in favor of another religion - or no religion at all.