THURSDAY, MARCH 5th, 2009

10:30 am - 1:15 pm
Session I:  Origins of the Secular

Religious Origins
Noah Feldman, Professor of Law, Harvard University

Political Origins
George Kateb, Professor Emeritus, Politics, Princeton University

Philosophic Origins
Richard J. Bernstein, Vera List Professor of Philosophy, The New School for Social Research

Secularism as Ideology
José Casanova, Professor of Sociology and Senior Fellow; Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs, Georgetown University

Session Moderator: David Plotke, Professor of Political Science, Chair of History, The New School for Social Research and Eugene Lang College The New School for Liberal Arts

The session will be ended with discussion between the speakers, then discussion with the audience

1:15 pm - 2:15 pm      BREAK

2:15 pm - 5:00 pm
Session II:  Religious Selves, Secular Selves

Ritual, Sincerity and the Self
Adam B. Seligman, Professor of Religion, Research Associate, Institute for Culture, Religion and World Affairs, Boston University

Spirituality in Modern Society: The Spiritual Self
Peter van der Veer, University Professor, Utrecht University

The Human Predicament
William E. Connolly, Krieger-Eisenhower Professor of Political Theory and International Relations, The Johns Hopkins University

The Human Soul, a Unique Biological Adaptation: The Psychological Self
Daniel C. Dennett, Co-Director, Center for Cognitive Studies and Austin B. Fletcher Professor of Philosophy, Tufts University

Session Moderator: Mark Larrimore, Eugene Lang College The New School for Liberal Arts

The session will be ended with discussion between the speakers, then discussion with the audience

5:00 pm - 6:00 pm      BREAK

6:00 pm - 7:15 pm
Session III:   Keynote Address, The Polysemy of the Secular
by Charles Taylor, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, McGill University

Moderated by Benjamin Lee, Senior Vice President for International Affairs, The New School

FRIDAY, MARCH 6th, 2009

10:00 am - 12:45 pm
Session IV:  Religion, Politics, and the Democratic State

The Secular Citadel and the Untended Garden: Past Constitutional/Legal Debates
John T. Noonan, Jr., United States Senior Circuit Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

We Are All Religious Now, Again: Constitutional/Legal Debates
Winnifred Sullivan, Associate Professor of Law and Director, Law and Religion Program, University at Buffalo Law School, SUNY

Political Debates: Then
James A. Morone, Professor of Political Science and Urban Studies, Brown University

Political Debates: Now
Ann Pellegrini, Associate Professor, Performance Studies and Religious Studies, New York University
(in collaboration with Janet Jakobsen, Professor, Director, Barnard Center for Research on Women and Interim, Associate Dean of Faculty Diversity, Barnard College)

Session Moderator: Tariq Modood, Professor of Sociology, Politics and Public Policy, Director, University Research Centre for the Study of Ethnicity and Citizenship, Bristol University

The session will be ended with discussion between the speakers, then discussion with the audience

12:45 pm - 1:45 pm      BREAK

1:45 pm - 4:30 pm
Session V:  Moral Crusades Then and Now: Religious and Secular

The Prophetic Tradition and Civil Rights: a Transracial Challenge to Democracy
David L. Chappell, Professor of History, University of Oklahoma

Temperance to the Moral Majority
Susan F. Harding, Professor of Anthropology, University of California at Santa Cruz

Identity Politics
Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad, Professor of the History of Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations, Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, Georgetown University

Culture Wars
James Davison Hunter, LaBrosse-Levinson Distinguished Professor of Religion, Culture, and Social Theory; University of Virginia

Session Moderator: Ann Snitow, Associate Professor, Literature and Gender Studies, Eugene Lang College The New School for Liberal Arts

The session will be ended with discussion between the speakers, then discussion with the audience

4:30 pm - 5:00 pm      BREAK

5:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Session VI:  Contemporary Debates: The Future of Religion and the Future of Secularism
a panel discussion

Sheila Davaney, Program Officer, Religion, Society and Culture, Ford Foundation

Michael W. McConnell, Judge, U. S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit; Presidential Professor of Law, S.J. Quinney College of Law at the University of Utah

Ann Pellegrini, Associate Professor, Performance Studies and Religious Studies, New York University

Charles Taylor, Professor Emeritus of Political Science and Philosophy, McGill University

Session Moderator: José Casanova, Professor of Sociology and Senior Fellow; Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs, Georgetown University

The session will be ended with discussion between the speakers, then discussion with the audience

SATURDAY, MARCH 7th, 2009

Tours at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

Social Research has collaborated with the Metropolitan Museum of Art to create private tours for conference attendees. The tours will begin with art from Ancient Greece and Rome, step back to the Ancient Near East, and then continue forward through Medieval Art, the Renaissance, and into the 19th century and Modern art. Each work of art will be considered in its respective historical context in order to establish how each work functions in terms of the religious-secular divide. The tours are one hour and cost $10 per person and include admission to the museum. ALL TOURS ARE NOW FULL AND CLOSED.