Presidential Plenary: Whose Freedom? Whose Future? Religious Liberty and the Architecture of American Democracy

In a moment of growing pressure on religious liberty, academic freedom, and civil rights, Deborah Archer, President of the ACLU asks not only what freedoms we must defend, but what kind of future we are building. Drawing on the ACLU’s work and the idea of “justice as construction,” Deborah Archer will explore religious freedom as essential infrastructure for a pluralistic democracy—one capable of sustaining profound difference without turning difference into hierarchy or domination. The address considers the immediate and emerging challenges to religious freedom and argues that genuine pluralism does not simply happen: it must be deliberately built, protected, and sustained.