Rev. Dr. C. Welton Gaddy—Religion and Culture: Meeting the Challenge of Pluralism, a Ford Foundation project

As President of the nation’s leading umbrella interfaith group, Rev. Dr. C. Welton Gaddy works to include diverse, pluralistic religious voices in the public discussion of civic and cultural issues. Well-spoken and possessing a keen understanding of the media, Rev. Gaddy is available as an expert on America’s emerging religious pluralism, on religion and politics, and on the rise of the religious right. Author of over 20 books, including Faith and Politics, he also serves as the Pastor for Preaching and Worship at Northminster (Baptist) Church in Monroe, Louisiana.

Recent Interviews & Articles

Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, May 22, 2007, Local Faith Group Finalist for Award
Rocky Mountain News, May 4, 2007, Federal Hate Crimes Resolution Celebrated
Daytona Beach News Journal, April 21, 2007, "Religious Leaders Offer Condolences in Wake of Campus Tragedy"
The Jewish Week, April 13, 2007, "God, Back on the Trail"
Church & State, April 1, 2007, "First Freedom Fraud: Bush administration's religious liberty project draws fire from civil liberties and civil rights leaders."
TomPaine.com, March 19, 2007, "Forsaking Our Morality"
Associated Baptist Press, March 13, 2007, "Gonzales's SBC speech irks church--state experts"
Mercury News, February 24, 2007, "Group takes on religion, state ties"
Bay Area Reporter, February 22, 2007, "Campaign Argues for LGBT Families"
The New York Times, December 26, 2006, by David D. Kirkpatrick, Consultant Helps Democrats Embrace Faith, and Some in Party Are Not Pleased
Dallas Morning News, November 4, 2006, by Jeffrey Weiss, Minister's fall another lesson Shield of faith doesn't prevent bad decisions, Christians say
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, October 14, 2006, by Laura Lynn Brown, How would Jesus vote? Religious groups' voter guides focus on both ends of the political spectrum and differing concepts of ‘values'
Des Moines Register, May 21,2006, by Carol Hunter, "Alliance benefits both religion, democracy"
The Christian Century Magazine, May 16, 2006, "Towey leaving helm of faith-based initiatives"
Washingtonpost.com, April 29, 2006, In Brief
Gay.com, April 26, 2006, by Larry Buhl, PlanetOut Network, "Clergy slam US faith-based office"
oudaily.com, April 17, 2006, by Cassie Clark, "Speaker: freedom in jeopardy"
Kansas City Star, April 3, 2006, by Bill Tammeus, "Attorney renews fight against 'under God' in pledge"
Bay Area Reporter, March 30, 2006, by Rob Akers, " Religious leaders speak out on marriage"
Christian Science Monitor, March 14, 2006, by Daniel B. Wood, "Churches resist tougher immigration laws"
Associated Baptist Press, March 2, 2006, by Robert Marus

Gaddy warns Mainstream Baptists to be vigilant on religious liberty
The Nation, February 22, 2006, Looking for Votes in All the Wrong Places"
Cybercast News Service, February 7, 2006 "Liberal Clergyman Calls Boehner a "Disaster for Religious Liberties"
Reuters, December 21, 2005 "Court ruling won't stop evolution row: experts"
Christian Science Monitor, November 4, 2005 "Should senators ask Alito about the role of his faith?"
Baltimore Sun, November 5, 2005 "Christian activists lobby for court nominee; they believe Alito's views mirror theirs; secular conservatives and liberal groups also taking sides"
The New York Times (letter to the editor), October 8, 2005 "The Miers Nomination"
Dallas Morning News, October 14, 2005 "Ok for Muslim center sought. Group says facility would reach out to young people"
TomPaine.com (op-ed), September 28, 2005 "Keeping FEMA Out Of Church"
The New York Times, January 17, 2005 "The Man Who Puts Words in the President's Mouth Defends His Style"

On Tuesday, February 11, 2003 the Religion & Culture communications initiative hosted an audio news conference entitled President or Preacher?: George W. Bush's Irresponsible Use of Religious Language. Dr. Elaine Pagels of Princeton University and Rev. C. Welton Gaddy of the Interfaith Alliance criticized President George W. Bush's consistent and reckless use of religious language, saying that such language is divisive and destructive to the healthy debate essential to the democratic process.

You can download the transcript from the audio news conference here

Listing of articles generated by the audio news conference can be found here

Rev. Gaddy provides regular commentary to the national media on issues relating to religion and politics. Recent appearances include CNN's Inside Politics, and The World Today with Wolf Blitzer, PBS's Religion and Ethics Newsweekly and The Newshour with Jim Lehrer, C-SPAN's Washington Journal, NBC's Dateline and NBC Evening News with Tom Brokaw, and ABC's World News Tonight.