Lilly Gillespie

Lilly Gillespie interned with RFI's National Center for Religious Freedom Education in 2021 prior to her graduation from Washington & Lee in 2022. As a student, Lilly took religion classes and traveled to North Africa where she explored the intersection of religion and political conflict. These experiences sparked an interest to know more about religious freedom and led to her RFI. “I really liked RFI’s focus on combining academic research and public advocacy to return religious freedom to the forefront of American life.“

Lilly’s internship with RFI actually began at the SaRF DC conference. “I valued the opportunity to meet so many peers from different religions who were passionate about religious freedom and what that meant for them.”  As an intern, she also volunteered with the 2021 IRF Summit where she prioritized interacting with people from all over the world with such different life experiences.

Lilly is currently working at a public affairs firm which is allowing her to experience a new part of political life in America.  “On a personal level, the RFI internship made religion a lot more tangible and important for me. I’ve become a lot more serious about my faith and my time at RFI definitely started me on a path of asking questions about what I believe and why. And getting to see different religions made me more faithful to my own.”