Thursday, September 24

Morning Mingle
Grab your coffee and meet up with colleagues for a morning networking session.

Welcome & opening remarks
Peter Smith, RNA president

Are Houses of Worship ‘Essential’ During a Pandemic?
When the pandemic shut down non-essential services, it fired up a debate about the First Amendment as some governors did not deem religious meetings as "essential." While most religious institutions turned to virtual services, some kept their doors open in defiance. Although the Supreme Court has sided so far against calls to overturn state restrictions, the debate rages on with the end of the pandemic nowhere in sight. Where are the lines in a conversation about public health risks and religious liberty?

• Moderator: Deepa Bharath, Southern California News Group

• Robert Tyler, Tyler & Bursch, LLP and Advocates for Faith and Freedom

• Rev. Alvin Gwynn, Friendship Baptist Church

• John Inazu, Washington University

• Rabbi Yoshi Zweiback, Stephen Wise Temple

Lunch with breakout rooms: I’m New here, Freelancers Unite, Reporting with Social Media, I Want to Write a Book, Just Here to Socialize

Mourning and Clergy Mental Health During a Global Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced mourning practices to change across religious communities. Clergy are adapting, offering counseling over the phone, sitting shiva on Zoom and holding off on traditional funerals. All of this has also taken a toll on clergy members' mental health as they seek to walk with their community members through times of grief but often must remain isolated themselves. Our panelists will discuss how they have altered mourning practices due to social distancing and how the pandemic has impacted their own mental health.

• Moderator: Rae Jean Proeschold-Bell, Duke Global Health Institute

• Imam Hamzah Abdul-Malik, Midtown Mosque

• Rabbi Pamela Gottfried, Congregation Bet Haverim

• Dave Miron, Samaritan Counseling Center

Race in Sacred Spaces: How Racial Inequities Have Shaped America’s Religious Landscape
George Floyd’s death sparked a national reckoning with racism—and (this time) religious groups were not exempt. Our panelists will talk about the creativity and resilience of minority religious groups as they navigate through the coronavirus pandemic, which has amplified racial inequities, and a national conversation about systemic racism. They will also address how faith communities are playing a part in helping bridge inequities.

• Moderator: Deepa Bharath, Southern California News Group

• Rev. Myra Brown, Spiritus Christi

• JaNaé Bates, ISAIAH

• Rev. Pausa Kaio Thompson, Dominguez Samoan Congregational Christian Church

• Marcos Canales, La Fuente Ministries

RNA member meeting

Awards presentation

Social hour with breakout rooms: Winners Circle and Religion Trivia

Friday, September 25

Morning Mingle
Grab your coffee and meet up with colleagues for a morning networking session.

Getting out the Vote in CoC
As the demographics shift in key battleground states, political experts predict that minorities such as Muslims, Latinos, Hispanics and blacks determine the outcome of the election. Grassroots faith-based organizations — including churches, mosques, and temples — have been harnessing the power of their communities to "get out the vote" and to ensure they are counted in the census. Now, COVID-19 and a burdened postal service have only furthered that challenge, forcing groups to reimagine their strategies and adjust their respective policy agendas.

• Moderator: Simran Jeet Singh, The Sikh Coalition

• Jackie Colon, NALEO Educational Fund

• Mohamed Gula, Emgage

• Billy Honor, New Georgia Project

• Nikki Singh, The Sikh Coalition

Lunch with breakout rooms: Just Here to Socialize, Students, Broadcast, Getting More Involved with RNA

We’re on a Mission from God: Religion in the Halls of Power
What does lobbying look like from a faith community perspective? What are the issues driving various groups, particularly minority faith groups? What are their goals and strategies for influencing policy and lawmakers? How do faith-based organizations find collaborators across ideological and political spectra?

• Moderator: Jack Gordon, Interfaith-ish

• Ziba Murat, Campaign for Uyghurs

• Mitchell Hescox, The Evangelical Environmental Network

• Anthony Vance, Bahá’ís of the United States

• Rogiérs Fibby, Black Nonbelievers of DC

Remarks from our sponsor: the Religion News Foundation
New RNF CEO Deborah Caldwell will share current programs and other new opportunities for religion reporters in the year ahead.

Going Beyond the 81%
It's widely known that White American evangelicals make up a core part of President Trump's base, but most reporting doesn't go beyond the “81%” exit poll stat. Evangelicals of other races represent a large percentage of voters in the U.S.; surveys show that non-Trump factions would outnumber many classic Democratic voting blocs. Data experts, faith leaders, and academics will bring us beyond that 81% to understand how and why various faith communities vote the way they do and how Christians of color and religious minorities are responding to highly public debates over race, national identity and the country's history of inequity.

• Moderator: Adelle Banks, Religion News Service

• Khyati Y. Joshi, Farleigh Dickinson University

• Robert Jones, Public Religion Research Institute

• Lisa Sharon Harper, Freedom Road

Closing remarks
Betsy Shirley, RNA president