By Robert Dilday / Baptist News Global
This is an abbreviated version of the story. For the full story, click here.
For 25 years Brent Walker has observed the religious-liberty landscape from a perch at the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, just blocks from the U.S. Capitol and Supreme Court. He began in 1989 as associate general counsel then became general counsel in 1993 and executive director in 1999. We asked him to look back over his quarter-century on the “serpentine wall” of church-state separation.
Twenty-five years is a long time in national public policy life. How is the religious-liberty landscape different than it was 25 years ago?
The religious-liberty landscape is definitely different. In some ways, religious liberty is in rockier territory than it was when I started. In other ways, it’s on more fertile soil. I think we have lost ground when it comes to constitutional protection against the establishment of religion, such as state-sponsored religious exercises and government-funded church ministries and religious education. We have been up and down concerning protections for the free exercise of religion, losing ground as a matter of constitutional interpretation but gaining through legislation supported by the BJC, such as the Religious Freedom Restoration Act in 1993 and the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act in 2000.
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Who have been some of the inspirations for you during the past 25 years — the ones you’d cite as models of religious-liberty advocacy?
First and foremost, James Dunn [former BJC executive director]. After stepping into his very large shoes, I quickly determined that James’ style was inimitable. But I learned a lot from him about how to express complicated issues simply, and I certainly shared his passion. Buzz Thomas, my predecessor as general counsel, taught me most of everything I learned early on about constitutional law and public policy advocacy on the Hill.
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You’ve received degrees in both law and theology. On balance which has been most useful in navigating religious-liberty issues? Forced to choose, which would you advise your (eventual) successor to focus on?
Both my law degree (and 10 years of practice) and my master of divinity degree from Southern Seminary have been invaluable. It’s a near perfect combination of pedigree that informs exactly what I do day in and day out. Our understanding of religious liberty is theologically grounded (a gift from God at creation), but protections for it come through applying and enforcing constitutional principles (the First Amendment’s religion clauses and Article VI).
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