Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life
Encyclopedia
Boston College
Boston College is a private Jesuit research university located in the village of Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, USA. The main campus is bisected by the border between the cities of Boston and Newton. It has 9,200 full-time undergraduates and 4,000 graduate students. Its name reflects its early...
. The goal of the Boisi Center is to create opportunities where a community of scholars, policy makers, media and religious leaders in the Boston area and nationally can connect in conversations and scholarly reflection around issues at the intersection of religion and American public life. The hope is that such conversations can help to clarify the moral and normative consequences of public policies in ways that can help us to maintain the common good, while respecting our growing religious diversity.
The Boisi Center does not seek to advance any ideological agenda, whether liberal or conservative. It does not see its role as advocating "for" religion as against something called "secularism." While based in a Jesuit university
University
A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...
, it will not take sides in competing groups of Catholic theologians, nor will it defend a specifically Catholic
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
viewpoint against non-Catholic ones. Its goal is to promote discussion and respect for conflicting positions.
Alan Wolfe
Alan Wolfe
Alan Wolfe is a political scientist and a sociologist and is currently on the faculty of Boston College and serves as director of the Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life...
is the Director of the Boisi Center and Erik Owens is the Associate Director.
The Boisi Center puts together conferences and seminars at Boston College, including one in October 2007 on Gambling and the American Moral Landscape. Visiting fellows are also associated with the Boisi Center, and the center strives to provide resources for media interested in religion and public life.
University trustee Geoffrey T. Boisi and Rene (Isacco) Boisi, both members of the college class of 1969, endowed the Center in 1999 with a $5 million gift.