Wednesday, September 17

About Islam
A lecture and Q&A covering the basics of the faith with Imam Mohamed Magid, All Dulles Area Muslim Society

Women and American Islam
Discussion on how American Muslim women are increasingly taking on leadership roles in their communities and the implications for the U.S. and beyond.

• Maha ElGenaidi, Islamic Networks Group

• Daisy Khan, American Society for Muslim Advancement

• Dalia Mogahed, Gallup Center for Muslim Studies

• Mona Eltahawy, freelance journalist and commentator

Lunch sponsored by Will Davis, Jr., author of “Why Faith Makes Sense”

American Muslim Civic Participation
Discussion on rising civic and interfaith participation from the American Muslim community and what it means to communities throughout the U.S.

• Edina Lekovic, Muslim Public Affairs Council

• Zeenat Rahman, Interfaith Youth Core

• Farid Senzai, Institute for Social Policy and Understanding

• Dawud Walid, Council on American-Islamic Relations—Michigan

Reporting on American Muslims
Discussion on current coverage and how to overcome challenges reporting on the American Muslim community.

• Maria Ebrahimji, CNN

• Anisa Mehdi, documentary filmmaker

• Tayyibah Taylor, Azizah Magazine

• Jamie Tarabay, NPR

Dinner sponsored by the Fetzer Institute’s campaign for love and forgiveness

Thursday, September 18

Continental breakfast sponsored by Jossey-Bass
Chris Korzen and Alexia Kelley authors of "A Nation for All."

Getting up to Speed on Multimedia sponsored by the Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute
A practical primer for print religion journalists presented by Lynda Kraxberger, Missouri School of Journalism.

Press conference: What Americans Really Believe sponsored by Baylor University
Rodney Stark and Baylor Scholars to Unveil New Results from National Survey on Americans' Beliefs and Practices.

Lunch: Religious Freedom, a Great Topic for Polite Company sponsored by The Council for America’s First Freedom

Welcome
Kevin Eckstrom, RNA president

Putting Faith in Politics
Seasoned political commentators discuss the roles faith communities have played in this year's presidential campaign—from candidates' personal beliefs to the effectiveness of Democrats to appeal to religious voters.

• Moderator: Adelle Banks, Religion News Service

• Michael Gerson, The Washington Post

• Amy Sullivan, TIME magazine

The New Religion Page
Editors of some of the best online religion pages will talk about how their religion sections made the transition from paper to the Web. Moderated by Mirko Petricevic, Waterloo Region Record.

• Moderator: Mirko Petricevic, Waterloo Region Record

• Cathy Grossman, USA TODAY

• Sam Hodges, The Dallas Morning News

• David Waters, On Faith

Digital petting zoo II
Radio Shack is back with more gadgets and gizmos and more space to play with them.

Welcome reception sponsored by Zondervan
Cathleen Falsani, author of “Sin Boldly”

Movie Screening: “Fireproof” sponsored by Lovell-Fairchild Communications

Friday, September 19

Continental breakfast and press conference sponsored by Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs at Georgetown University

New member breakfast (by invitation)

Strangers and Aliens Among Us
The immigrant experience is as old as Abraham. This panel will look at how U.S. faith communities respond to immigrants, and how congregations welcome worshippers who may be precious in the eyes of God but illegal in the eyes of the state.

• Moderator: Abe Levy, San Antonio Express-News.

• J. Kevin Appleby, Migration and Refugee Services of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

• Roy Beck, NumbersUSA

• Kim Bobo, Interfaith Worker Justice

• Tricia Bruce, University of Notre Dame’s Center for the Study of Religion and Society

We Believe in No God and You Shouldn’t Either
Outspoken atheists have produced a host of bestsellers over the past two years with bold challenges to religious faith. This panel will probe the dynamics of atheism and secularism as broad movements, and examine the different perspectives of those who seek morals and meaning beyond religion.

• Moderator: William Lobdell, Four Boys New Media.

• Jennifer Michael Hecht, author of “The End of the Soul: Scientific Modernity, Atheism and Anthropology”

• Barry Kosmin, Institute for the Study of Secularism in Society and Culture

• Paul Kurtz, Center for Inquiry

Lunch: How “Christian” Does a Presidential Candidate Need to Be? sponsored by DeMoss Group

Survey release: 2008 National Survey of Religion & Politics
Conducted at the University of Akron in every presidential election since 1992, the 2008 National Survey of Religion and Politics offers a baseline for assessing the role of religion in the 2008 presidential election. John Green, the director of the study will release the 2008 pre-election survey and offer comparisons to the pre-election surveys in 1992, 1996, 2000, and 2004.

• Moderator: Joe Rodriguez, The Wichita Eagle

• John Green, Ray C. Bliss Institute of Applied Politics

• Luis E. Lugo, Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life

The Spiritual Abraham Lincoln
In 2009 there will be a national celebration of the 200th birthday of Abraham Lincoln, with history museums and libraries nationwide expected to be involved. Here's your angle: Lincoln's religious faith has always been disputed, with some historians pegging him as a devout Christian, others a skeptical rationalist and a small minority as a Spiritualist. Lincoln scholars will examine the evidence for what he believed and how his legacy has taken on religious overtones.

• Moderator: Peter Smith, The Courier-Journal

• David Early, Library of Congress

• Dewey Wallace, George Washington University

• Ronald C. White Jr., author of two bestselling books on Abraham Lincoln

Tour and reception at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, hors d'oeuvres sponsored by Angel Food Ministries

Freelancer social (invite only)

Saturday, September 20

Breakfast featuring messages from donors and a HarperOne press conference debuting “The Green Bible”

The Challenge of Catholic Schools
Most of the teachings nuns are gone, and so are many of the students. Why are parochial schools closing in some areas, growing in others or changing to meet modern realities? In addition to reviewing trends in Catholic parochial education, Archbishop Donald Wuerl of Washington, D.C., will speak about the unique solutions he tried in an attempt to keep open inner-city Catholic schools.

• Moderator: Michael Paulson, The Boston Globe

• Mark Gray, CARA

• Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl, Catholic Archdiocese of Washington

Sourcing Islam: Nuanced Reporting on a Contested Faith
Confused about who to call to get responsible and informed views from within the Islamic community? You're not alone. This panel will help you locate credible sources on Islam and understand where they stand on the Muslim political, theological and social spectrum.

• Moderator: Matthai Kuruvila, San Fransico Chronicle

• Shahed Amanullah, Halalfire Media LLC and Altmuslim.com

• Paul Barrett, BusinessWeek

• Dalia Mogahed, Gallup Center for Muslim Studies

Lunch: All Creatures Great and Small sponsored by the Humane Society of the United States

Breakout Panel: Boggled by Blogging?
A growing number of religion reporters are being asked to blog for their outlet's website. This panel will look at how to make your blog more interesting than the thousands of others out there, when to find time to write it and how to deal with controversial subject matter in this more personal forum.

• Moderator: Kristen Campbell, The Press-Register

• Manya Brachear, Chicago Tribune

• Terry Mattingly, GetReligion.org

• Andrea Useem, freelancer

Breakout Panel: Whither Congregations?
The big wooden doors are closing as graying churches and synagogues can no longer sustain themselves in changing neighborhoods. This panel will look at why some neighborhood congregations are dying and how others are reinventing themselves to reach out to new flocks of faithful in coffeehouses, warehouses and homes.

• Moderator: Cecile Holmes, University of South Carolina

• Diana Butler Bass, author, speaker and independent scholar specializing in American religion and culture

• Andre Daley, Mosaic Life

• Julia Duin, The Washington Times

Breakout Panel: The Mission of Architecture
Pour your dollars into a beautiful, historic building, or put the money to work on spreading the faith and caring for the needy? This workshop will look at ways some Washington congregations have found to resolve that dilemma, and what happens when outsiders try to landmark a house of worship against the will of the faith community.

• Moderator: Kevin Eckstrom, Religion News Service

• Darrow Kirkpatrick, Third Church of Christ, Scientist

• Bob Jaeger, Partners for Sacred Spaces

Breakout Panel: Surveying Surveys
Reporters are bombarded with purported poll and survey results on religious belief and practice. But how do we know which studies are trustworthy and how to interpret what they say? We look at sound and faulty data and help you find ways to tell which is which.

• Roger Finke, Association of Religion Data Archives

• Ed Stetzer, LifeWay Research

• Dan Cox, Public Religion Research Institute

Reception and silent auction sponsored by Religion & Ethics NewsWeekly

Awards banquet and dessert reception sponsored in part by The Washington Times Foundation and The McClatchy Company

Sunday, September 21

Breakfast of Champions sponsored by the Center for Religion & the Professions

RNA member meeting

Board meeting and lunch