RFI hosted the 7th annual Statesmanship and Religious Freedom Seminar in Washington, D.C. from May 20-22. Led by Jim Bennett, Director of RFI’s National Center for Religious Freedom Education, the Statesmanship Seminar is RFI’s premier student program, combining interactive sessions with religious freedom scholars, multi-sensory and immersive experiences in our Nation’s Capital, and meetings with public officials and civil society leaders working to advance religious freedom in the United States and around the world. Co-hosted with the Museum of the Bible, the D.C. Seminar included visits to the U.S. Capitol, federal agencies, and D.C.-based non-profits.

 Key speakers at this year’s program included Daniel Dreisbach, Professor at American University; 
Suhail Khan, Senior Director of External Affairs at Microsoft Corporation and Senior Fellow at the Institute for Global Engagement; Andrea Lucas, Chair of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission; Sarah Makin, Former Deputy Assistant to the President and Senior Director on the National Security Council; Andrew Graham, Senior Counsel and Vice President of Academic Affairs & Strategic Affairs at Alliance Defending Freedom; and RFI Alumni Riley Hambrick, Legislative Director for Rep. Neal Dunn (FL-2); and Lyndsey Reynolds, Assistant to the RFI President & Strategic Initiatives.

The Statesmanship and Religious Freedom series is a cornerstone program of RFI’s work to equip and empower the next generation of religious freedom champions to advance the first principles of religious freedom within their sphere of influence.