Thursday, September 21

Museum of the Bible hard hat tour

Around the World in 45 Minutes …
What are some of the top international religion stories we’re missing and how can we bring those stories home in ways that serve our editors' and audiences' needs? Leading journalists share practical ideas.

• Moderator: Brian Pellot, Religion News Foundation

• Tom Gjelten, National Public Radio

• Yonat Shimron, Religion News Service

Briefing: Religion and Foreign Policy from the office of Shaun Casey, U.S. State Department
Rachel Leslie from the Office of Religion and Global Affairs at the U.S. State Department, will discuss the office’s work on policy and refugees.

Lunch at the Newseum sponsored by the Newseum’s Religious Freedom Center

Google Labs Tools for Reporters
Attend this workshop to get an overview of how Google's tools can help you research stories, fact-check, find what's trending, and locate and quickly visualize useful datasets. The workshop will highlight: advanced Google Search techniques and refinements, Google Trends, Google Public Data Explorer, and more —  to ensure you're fully covered on how to fully uncover things.

• Moderator: Brian Pellot, Religion News Foundation

• Sam Stewart, Stanford University

Islamophobia in Focus: Muslims and the Media
Research shows that 9 in 10 of all news reports about Muslims, Islam and organizations are related to violence – war or terrorism. In fact, most Muslim newsmakers are warlords or terrorists. Alarmingly, media representations of Islam were worse in 2015 than any other time since 9/11. Are such portrayals representative of today’s global realities? Are Muslims simply over-sensitive? Are concerns with media depictions of Muslims and Islam in the West reflective of a liberal culture obsessed with political correctness? If not, are there opportunities for change?

• Moderator: Engy Abdelkader, Georgetown University

• John Esposito, Alwaleed Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University

• Arsalan Iftikhar, The Muslim Guy

• Dalia Mogahed, Institute for Social Policy and Understanding

• Ayman Mohyeldin, NBC News

• Roland Schatz, Media Tenor International

Welcome reception

Interfaith Comedy Night
Is it any wonder that some of the best comedians come from religious groups living with their backs to the wall? With so much depressing, even horrifying news on the religion beat, we hear from comedians of different faiths. They provide a sample of their routines and follow up with a question-and-answer session on this complex interplay of faith, humor, tragedy and resilience.

• Moderator: Dina Zingaro, CBS News

• Mo Amer, comedian

• Jenna Kim Jones, comedian

• Matty Litwak, comedian

Friday, September 23

Power networking breakfast

Welcome & announcements

Race, Religion & #BlackLiveMatter in the Post-Obama Era
We hear from experts about how the #BlackLivesMatter movement has and will shape American discourse and policy, including after the first African-American president leaves office. How has it compared to the influence of the civil rights movement, which was deeply connected to black churches? If it is happening mostly outside the walls of the church, is the church catching up to it or has it been left behind?

• Moderator: Adelle Banks, Religion News Service

• Kip Banks, East Washington Heights Baptist Church

• Kelly Brown Douglas, Goucher College

• Ryan Herring, TheGhettoMonk.com

Lunch: “Christians in the Middle East” sponsored by the Knights of Columbus

• Andrew Walther, Knights of Columbus

• Nina Shea, Center for Religious Freedom, Hudson Institute

• Dr. Elizabeth Prodromou, Tufts University and the Center for American Progress

Give Me Religious Liberty or Give Me an Amicus Brief!
From the Free Exercise Clause to Zubik v. Burwell, questions about how religious rights fit into the legal framework have kept U.S. courts busy since the country’s founding. How did carving out a space for religious accommodation under the law become deafening calls for amnesty? What religious liberty cases currently traveling through the court system should we be keeping our eyes on?

• Moderator: Tim Townsend, freelance

• Sarah Barringer Gordon: University of Pennsylvania

• Marie Griffith, John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics at Washington University

• Douglas Laycock, University of Virginia Law School

How Immigrants are Changing the Church in America
Check out church signs across America, and it is easy now to find congregations of Filipinos, Nigerians, Brazilians, Mexicans and Koreans — to name a few. About 75 percent of foreign-born residents in the United States now are Christians, and they are here to stay. Our panel shares some of the names, trends and controversies to look for so we can better tell the stories behind one of the most significant and least-covered shifts in the American religious landscape.

• Moderator: Laurie Goodstein, The New York Times

• Wesley Granberg-Michaelson, Reformed Church in America

• Jehu J. Hanciles, Candler School of Theology

• Gabriel Salguero, National Latino Evangelical Coalition

• Maria Liu Wong, City Seminary of New York

Dinner: The Moral & Cognitive Capacities of Animals sponsored by AAAS
Over the past year, a number of stories have surfaced in the news that involve the killing of animals. These stories offer unique opportunities for religion reporters to consider a variety of issues relevant to their beats. One such question is how do the moral and cognitive abilities of humans and animals compare? And, what does it mean if these abilities show similarities? In this dinner discussion, Dr. Irene Pepperberg will introduce her revolutionary work with African Grey parrots to touch on these types of questions. RNA member Kelsey Dallas will respond with remarks designed to help journalists think through how they might report on the issues raised by research like Pepperberg’s.

Saturday, September 24

Breakfast and Religious Liberty Survey data release sponsored by Pew Research Center

Women and Religion: When Faith and Feminism Collide
In many ways, women are more religious than men, the purveyors of faith in their communities. They show up for services more often, and take more responsibility for passing on faith to children. Yet they are often denied leadership roles, a voice and even the respect afforded to men in their traditions. How do they cope? What happens when they can’t reconcile their religious identities with their respect for themselves as women?

• Moderator: Lauren Markoe, Religion News Service

• Chani Gettler, Inspirational Living Inc.

• Kate Kelly, Ordain Women

• Pam Palmer, activist

• Jennifer Zobair, author

Nuancing the Nones
The Nones or "unaffiliated" are already the nation's second largest group. But they're far from a monolith, ranging from fiery atheists to "apatheists," or vaguely spiritual folks who have disconnected from denominational brands and apathetic about the whole business. What does it mean to the public square — and to voting patterns, which correlate closely to religious identity — when one in four Americans are unaware or uninterested in the religious distinctions of particular faiths?

• Moderator: Kimberly Winston, freelance journalist

• Daniel Cox, Public Religion Research Institute

• Sarah Jones, The New Republic

• Tom Krattenmaker, Yale Divinity School

• Scott McConnell, LifeWay Research

Lunch: Beliefs—A Different Face for Evangelicals sponsored by LifeWay Research
When evangelical is defined by beliefs (based on a LifeWay Research study with the NAE) the complexion of evangelicals changes. The panel will reflect this diversity and will address the theological convictions that make this group stand out in cultural conversations today. The pastors and ministry leaders on the panel will share how they are acting on their beliefs and some of the challenges they face as American culture shifts. Plus, embargoed research on the state of American theology.

• Moderator, Scott McConnell, LifeWay Research

• Nikki Toyama-Szeto, International Justice Mission

• Michael Kelsey, McLean Bible Church

• Daniel Escobar, La Red

• Carmen LaBerge, writer and speaker

Countering Violent Extremism, Five Years In
In the summer of 2011, the Obama administration issued a new “countering violent extremism” strategy based on building relationships with communities that are likely to be recruiting grounds for extremists. Local police would be at its center. CVE enjoys bipartisan support. Researchers have said it holds promise. Critics say it’s based on simplistic ideas of radicalization and that it stigmatizes Muslim communities. This panel looks at CVE from the perspectives of participants, critics and researchers. It also looks at such efforts aimed at a different population — white supremacists.

• Moderator: Dilshad D. Ali, Patheos Muslim

• Seamus Hughes, the Program on Extremism at George Washington University

• Imam Mohamed Magid, All Dulles Area Muslim Society

• Tony McAleer, Life After Hate

• Faiza Patel, Liberty and National Security Program at NYU School of Law

Cover the Godbeat Using this One Weird Trick: Digital Tools for Reporting on Religion
Just when you think you've got social media all figured out, along come new networks like Instagram, Snapchat and Periscope. And what's this about email and podcasts making a resurgence? Digital-savvy religion journalists share their experiences and best practices for using social media to cover the beat.

• Moderator: Emily McFarlan Miller, Religion News Service

• Sarah Pulliam Bailey, The Washington Post

• Nicola Menzie, Faithfully Magazine

• Kate Shellnutt, Christianity Today

RNA members meeting

Silent auction and awards banquet sponsored by the International Shinto Foundation and “The Shack”

Banquet afterparty