A Series of Week-Long Courses Explore Religious Freedom Issues

Newseum: Shutterstock.com

Six week-long graduate-level courses offered by the Religious Freedom Center of the Freedom Forum Institute focus on creating greater understanding of the First Amendment and its application in today’s world.

These curricula are offered to fill the gap in most people’s education. As described on the Religious Freedom Center website: “many citizens receive little or no civic education about the religious liberty clauses of the First Amendment, with the result that they are misled about the constitutional role of religion in public life, confused about the meaning of church-state separation, and uncertain about the limits of the free exercise of religion.”

Courses, held twice annually, in January and June, cover the following topics:

  • REL 100 Foundations of Religious Freedom
  • REL 300 Religion & News Media
  • REL 400-I Women, Peacebuilding & Religious Freedom
  • REL 600 Islam & Religious Freedom
  • REL 700 African Americans & Religious Freedom (pilot cohort only)
  • RLIT 100-I Religious Literacy: Theory & Practice

Enrollment for the January courses is available now through Dec. 1, 2018, for the Jan. 17 to 19, 2019, session. All onsite sessions take place at the Newseum in Washington, D.C.

The Newseum is a 501(c)(3) public charity with the mission: to increase public understanding of the importance of a free press and the First Amendment. Visitors experience the story of news, the role of a free press in major events in history, and how the core freedoms of the First Amendment—religion, speech, press, assembly and petition—apply to their lives. The Religious Freedom Center of the Freedom Forum Institute is a nonpartisan national initiative focused on educating the public about the religious liberty principles of the First Amendment.


From its beginnings, the Church of Scientology has recognized that freedom of religion is a fundamental human right. In a world where conflicts are often traceable to intolerance of others’ religious beliefs and practices, the Church has, for more than 50 years, made the preservation of religious liberty an overriding concern.

The Church publishes this blog to help create a better understanding of the freedom of religion and belief and provide news on religious freedom and issues affecting this freedom around the world.

For more information visit the Scientology website or Scientology Network.

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