Celebrating the past decade as w BJC is raising up a new generation of religious liberty advocates, including through educational sessions and the BJC Fellows Program.
BJC stands against attempts to target anyone for unfair treatment based on religion, including the Muslim and African travel ban. We joined our neighbors at the U.S. Supreme Court in 2018 after the ruling in Trump v. Hawaii. Since 1936, BJC has found strength in collaborating with a diverse array of groups, both religious and secular.
The BJC Fellows Program equips young professionals to advocate for faith freedom throughout their careers. In 2019, members of several classes spoke about the impact of the program.
BJC hosted Eboo Patel, president of Interfaith Youth Core, for a lecture series in 2020. He challenged students to consider being “the kind of leader who can encourage cooperation between people from different religious communities.”
In 2015, BJC was a leader in the Know Your Neighbor campaign, an interfaith effort to foster dialogue and understanding across lines of racial and political differences.
On the 150th anniversary of Juneteenth in 2015, the Rev. Dr. Marvin McMickle gave a call to the BJC community that set a new tone. “Religious liberty is good, but so is physical freedom. Keep the faith by breaking the silence,” he said.
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REPORT FROM THE CAPITAL ● SUMMER 2021 ●
Justice Stephen Breyer spoke at the opening of the Center for Religious Liberty in 2012. The facility for programs coupled with the creation of BJC’s education department in the same year expanded our educational footprint.
James Dunn gives students a tour in 2013
BJC and the Howard University School of Divinity co-hosted a symposium on religious liberty and the Black Church in 2016, featuring the Rev. Dr. Raphael Warnock. Pictured are BJC’s Brent Walker, Dean Alton Pollard of the Howard University School of Divinity, Warnock, and BJC’s Amanda Tyler.