Marie Griffith is the John C. Danforth Distinguished Professor in the Humanities at Washington University in St. Louis, She served for 12 years (2011-2023) as the director of the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics and the editor of the Center’s journal, Religion & Politics.
Griffith is a frequent media commentator and public speaker on current issues pertaining to religion and politics, including the changing profile of American evangelicals and ongoing conflicts over gender, sexuality and marriage.
The university is offering an interdisciplinary course this fall exploring what led to the Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade and the implications going forward.
Leaning on their expertise in history, ethics and religious studies, faculty from the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics reflect on the Jan. 6 Capitol Insurrection.
Ahead of the anticipated SCOTUS ruling on landmark abortion case, Marie Griffith, director of the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics at Washington University in St. Louis, discussed the Supreme Court case, the history of the abortion debate across religious/political lines and a way forward.
Once more, we grieve; once more, we resolve to do what we can—all that we can—to quell the fires of racism, anti-Semitism, and anti-Muslim bigotry that burn ferociously today.
Honoring the latest thirteen lives callously stolen by hate, and so many who came before them, requires audible, visible action, even among those made uncomfortable by public protest. A good start would be refusing to accept the lies coming from the highest levels of our government.
It is no exaggeration to say that one of the most consequential political events of the 20th century was the conservative/fundamentalist resurgence/takeover in the Southern Baptist Convention. Whether you think it was a good thing or a bad thing, time is showing its broader import and influence to be vast.
Donald Trump is “morally unfit” to be president, James B. Comey, the FBI director Trump fired last year, declared in the ABC interview this week. But to judge moral fitness, shouldn’t we first agree on what moral behavior actually is?
Half-century-old advice from Billy Graham, who died Feb. 21, was in line with cultural and sexual norms of the 1950s and later decades, when many of Graham’s contemporary evangelical preachers fell from grace after widely publicized extramarital affairs, says R. Marie Griffith, director of the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics at Washington University in St. Louis.
In her new book, “Moral Combat: How Sex Divided American Christians and Fractured American Politics” (Basic Books, 2017), Washington University’s R. Marie Griffith offers a compelling history of the religious debates over sex and sexuality that came to dominate American public life.
As we plunge once more into a national debate over sex, power, assault and morality, many hope this will finally be the watershed moment in which a full reckoning will take place. We’ve been here before, though, and we’ve seen such hopes fade and get overtaken by self-interested partisan political fights. And it’s happening again.
Former U.S. Sen. John C. “Jack” Danforth will discuss “Preserving a United Nation: Moving Forward Together Despite Our Differences,” from 7-8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 6, in Knight Hall’s Emerson Auditorium at Washington University in St. Louis.
As America grapples with recent acts of violence against its Jewish and Muslim communities, leaders from these groups will explore responses based on partnership and solidarity in a public forum at 7 p.m. March 8 in Graham Chapel on the Danforth Campus of Washington University in St. Louis.
Donald Trump’s surprising success with Mormon, Catholic and evangelical Christian voters can best be explained by the deep distrust that these groups have for Hillary Clinton, suggests R. Marie Griffith, director of the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics.
“Envisioning the Future of Religion and Politics in America” will be the focus as the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics at Washington University in St. Louis welcomes national news media superstars Krista Tippett, David Brooks and E.J. Dionne Jr. for a pre-presidential debate dialogue Saturday, Oct. 8, in Graham Chapel on the Danforth Campus.
While it may seem bizarre for an American presidential candidate to describe the comments of a sitting pope as “disgraceful,” Donald Trump’s recent attacks on Pope Francis should come as no surprise from a candidate whose success hinges on playing to the fears of religiously inspired voters, suggests an expert on evangelical politics at Washington University in St. Louis.
Issues at the crossroads of religion, medicine and law will be the focus as the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics opens its fall lecture series Thursday, Sept. 10, with a talk on “Obamacare and American Values.”
Former U.S. senators John C. Danforth and Joe Lieberman
will discuss “The Role of Religion in America’s Broken Politics” at
7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 9, in Graham Chapel at Washington University in
St. Louis. The event is sponsored by the John C. Danforth Center on Religion
and Politics as part of the Danforth Distinguished Lecture Series and is free and open to the public.
Stephen Prothero, PhD, professor of religion at Boston University and author of numerous books, will explore America’s cultural rifts from a historic perspective for the Assembly Series. The program, free and open to the public, will begin at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 23, in Knight Hall’s Emerson Auditorium. His presentation, “Why Liberals Win: America’s Culture Wars from the
Election of 1800 to Same-Sex Marriage,” is a Danforth
Distinguished Lecture, sponsored by the John C. Danforth Center on
Religion and Politics.
Marie Griffith, PhD, is the director of the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics at Washington University in St. Louis. Griffith, the John C. Danforth Distinguished Professor in the Humanities, came to WUSTL in 2011 from Harvard Divinity School. Her husband, Leigh E. Schmidt, PhD, Edward Mallinckrodt Distinguished University Professor, is also a faculty member at the Danforth Center.
The inaugural Danforth Distinguished Lectures is bringing nationally recognized scholars to Washington University in St. Louis Nov. 18-20 for public lectures and discussions with faculty, students and invited experts. The theme will be “Protestant Foreign Missions and Secularization in Modern America.”
Marie Griffith, PhD, director of the John C. Danforth Center on Religion & Politics at Washington University in St. Louis, was installed as the John C. Danforth Distinguished Professor in the Humanities during a Sept. 4 ceremony held in Holmes Lounge. Griffith came to WUSTL from Harvard University in 2011 to lead the scholarly and educational center that focuses on the role of religion in politics in the United States.
Religion & Politics, the online journal of the John C. Danforth Center on Religion & Politics at Washington University in St. Louis, has been recognized as an official honoree at the 17th Annual Webby Awards in the category of Best Religion & Spirituality Website.
Attorney and women’s rights activist Sandra Fluke, who last February testified before the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee on the need to provide access to contraception, will kick off the spring lecture series sponsored by the Danforth Center on Religion & Politics at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 12, in Simon Hall’s May Auditorium.
Two topics often avoided in “polite conversation” will
be the buzz in the room as the John C. Danforth Center on Religion &
Politics hosts an open house
from 5-7 p.m. Monday, Sept. 24, in its new Umrath Hall location. The celebration offers the community a chance to meet new faculty, mingle with center staff and get an update on recent progress.
Religion never has been more central or more polarizing in U.S. politics. To help provide informed context around the religious and political issues that clash, converge and shape everyday public life, a new national online journal, Religion & Politics, from the John C. Danforth Center on Religion & Politics at Washington University in St. Louis went live May 1.
A new series, called the Danforth Dialogues, demonstrates how persons with profoundly different views can engage each other forcefully and respectfully. Sen. John C. Danforth moderated the first discussion between Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., and Sen. Dan Coats, R-Ind. The series is co-sponsored by the John C. Danforth Center on Religion & Politics.
Confronting Racism, Misogyny, and Xenophobia in U.S. History
Political polarization and unrest are not exclusive to our era, but in the twenty-first century, we are living with seemingly unresolvable disagreements that threaten to tear our country apart. Discrimination, racism, tyranny, religious fundamentalism, political schisms, misogyny, “fake news,” border walls, the #MeToo moment, foreign intervention in our electoral process—these cultural and social rifts charge […]
How Sex Divided American Christians and Fractured American Politics
The origins of some of the most divisive political conflicts of our age — abortion rights, birth control, gay marriage — did not originate in the 1960s, as some believe, but lie in sharp disagreements that emerged among American Christians a century ago, as historian R. Marie Griffith demonstrates in this compelling book.
