The Center for Vision & Values at Grove City College’s upcoming conference “Most Sacred: Freedom of Conscience in America" features David French, senior writer at National Review, speaking on “Civility Isn’t Surrender: A Defense of Decency in the Modern Age.”
French will address the conference audience during a dinner at 5:15 p.m. on Thursday, April 4 in the Morledge Great Room of Rathburn Hall. Registration is required for this event.
One of the National Review’s most-respected writers, French is an attorney – concentrating his practice in constitutional law and the law of armed conflict – and a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom. He is the author or co-author of several books, including, most recently, the No. 1 New York Times bestselling “Rise of ISIS: A Threat We Can’t Ignore.”
A graduate of Harvard Law School, French is a past president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) and a former lecturer at Cornell Law School. He has served as a senior counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice and the Alliance Defending Freedom. He is a former major in the United States Army Reserve and was deployed to Iraq in 2007, serving in Diyala Province as Squadron Judge Advocate for the 2nd Squadron, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, where he was awarded the Bronze Star. He lives and works in Columbia, Tennessee, with his wife, Nancy (who is also a New York Times bestselling author), and three children.
The conference on April 4 and 5 will explore: What is freedom of conscience properly understood? What is the tradition of conscientious objection, not just to Americans specifically but to Christians generally? What are its roots and applications from Biblical times to modern times? Who are its earliest martyrs and modern warriors? Which cases stand out and speak to us? Why is this a freedom worth preserving? And above all, how should we at Grove City College—an institution dedicated to faith and freedom, to the foundations of a faithful and free society, and to the mission of forming the very consciences of our students—respond to threats to freedom of conscience in today’s chaotic culture?
Other speakers include: Colleen Sheehan, co-director of the Matthew J. Ryan Center for the Study of Free Institutions and the Public Good at Villanova University; Michael Medved, nationally syndicated radio talk show host; Kristen Waggoner, attorney and senior counsel with Alliance Defending Freedom; Ryan Anderson, senior research fellow at The Heritage Foundation and author of “When Harry Became Sally;” and Paul J. McNulty ’80, president of Grove City College.
For a complete schedule and to register for the conference, visit the website at mostsacred.org.
The Center for Vision & Values is a conservative think tank strengthening the faith and freedom foundation of American citizenship. Its mission is to promote those principles to the next generation of American leaders and to share them with the wider world. For more about the center, visit visionandvalues.org.