THE DIVINITY SCHOOL at WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY

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• Katherine E. Amos
• Craig D. Atwood
• Douglass M. Bailey
• Jill Y. Crainshaw
• James M. Dunn
• Mark E. Jensen
• Kevin Jung
• Bill J. Leonard
• B. Diane Lipsett
• Veronice Miles
• Samuel Stevenson
• Phyllis Trible
• E. Frank Tupper
• Neal H. Walls

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Location: Divinity Home » Faculty » Melissa Rogers

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Melissa Rogers - Email

Melissa Rogers was appointed to the position of visiting professor of religion and public policy at Wake Forest University School of Divinity in the fall of 2003. She previously served as the executive director of the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life in Washington, D.C. The Forum, a project supported by The Pew Charitable Trusts, serves as a clearinghouse and a town hall for the discussion of the ways in which religion shapes ideas and institutions. Previous to her leadership at the Pew Forum, Rogers served as general counsel of the Baptist Joint Committee on Public Affairs based in Washington, D.C. In 2004, Rogers was recognized by National Journal as one of the church-state experts "politicians will call on when they get serious about addressing an important public policy issue."

Rogers has written widely about the relationship between religion and government. She is currently co-authoring a case book on religion and law for Baylor University Press. Rogers earned her law degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School, where she was a member of the National Moot Court Team and a Legal Writing Instructor. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Baylor University.

• Areas of Expertise
  • Religion and public policy
  • Religion and politics
  • Religion's role in public life
  • Religion and law
  • Separation of church and state
  • President Bush's "faith-based initiative" and "charitable choice"
  • Religion and public schools
• Selected Articles
  • Federal Funding and Religion-based Employment Decisions, chapter in Sanctioning Religion? Politics, Law, and Faith-based Public Services (David K. Ryden and Jeffrey Polet, editors)(Lynn Reinner Publishers) (2005).
  • Religious Freedoms in the United States, International Journal (Autumn 2004).
  • The Religious Freedom Restoration Act, co-authored with Professor Alan E. Brownstein, chapter in Major Acts of Congress (Macmillan Publishers) (November 2003).
• Congressional Testimony
  • Testimony before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Property Rights regarding religious expression and the public square (June 8, 2004)
• Opinion-Editorial
  • Churches Deserve Clarity on Tax Rules, The Baltimore Sun (December 29, 2005).
• Selected Radio Appearances
  • Mulling the Limits of Freedom of Speech in Churches, National Public Radio, Day to Day, Jason DeRose (November 14, 2005)
  • Keeping the Faith, On Point Radio, July 5, 2005 (discussing Professor Noah Feldman's book, Divided by God: America's Church-State Problem - and What We Should Do About It)
  • Religion and Politics: The Faith of President Bush, National Public Radio, Morning Edition, Barbara Bradley Hagerty (October 5, 2004).
• Selected Speaking Engagements
  • The Minister and Politics: How to be Political without being Partisan, Christian Ethics Today, June 27, 2007, Washington, D.C.
  • Separation of Church and State: Why?, Texas Lyceum, July 13, 2007, Austin, Texas .
  • Evangelical-Jewish Relations: Politics, Policy, and Theology, The Myer and Rosaline Feinstein Center for American Jewish History at Temple University, November 28-29 2007, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
  • First Amendment Rights in America's Public Schools, University of California Law School, March 7, 2008, Davis, California.
  • T.B. Maston Christian Ethics Lectures, Logsdon School of Theology at Hardin-Simmons University, April 14-15, 2008, Abilene, Texas.