Director of Religious Freedom Education Project is 2014 Lefever Lecurer at Elizabethtown College

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Dr. Charles Haynes, director of the Religious Freedom Education Project

ELIZABETHTOWN, PA (02/06/2014)(readMedia)-- With Thomas Jefferson as the founding father of religious freedom, this year's Elizabethtown College Lefever Lecturer is with excellent company. At 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 12, in the College's Gibble Auditorium, Dr. Charles Haynes, director of the Religious Freedom Education Project speaks on "Soul Liberty: The meaning and significance of religious freedom in America." Haynes also is senior scholar at the First Amendment Center/Newseum, Washington, D.C.

The Ernest W. Lefever Visiting Fellow in Ethics and Culture Endowed Fund was begun in 1999 to honor Ernest W. Lefever '42 for his lifelong contribution to fostering a deeper understanding of the vital role of ethics in our public life. Each year, one fellow visits Elizabethtown College for two days to share professional experiences that emphasize the moral dilemmas in contemporary American life. The chief purpose is to give the campus community an opportunity to meet with outstanding leaders who have grappled with the issue of ethics and culture in their professions. Sponsored by Elizabethtown College Dean of Faculty and Politics, Philosophy and Legal Studies, the event is free and open to the general public.

Best known for his work on First Amendment issues in public schools, Haynes has been the principal organizer and drafter of consensus guidelines on religious liberty in schools for the past two decades. He endorsed a broad range of religious and educational organizations. In January 2000, three of the guides were distributed by the U.S. Department of Education to every public school in the nation.

Haynes writes and speaks extensively on religious liberty and religion in American public life and is widely quoted in news magazines and major newspapers. He is a frequent guest on television and radio, has been profiled in The Wall Street Journal and on ABC's "Evening News" and, in 2008, received the Virginia First Freedom Award from the Council for America's First Freedom. Haynes is author or coauthor of six books, including "First Freedoms: A Documentary History of First Amendment Rights in America," published in 2006, and "Religion in American Public Life." His column, "Inside the First Amendment," is published in newspapers nationwide.

A founding board member of the Character Education Partnership, he also serves on the steering committee of the Campaign for the Civic Mission of Schools and the American Bar Association Advisory Commission on Public Education. Haynes chairs the Committee on Religious Liberty of the National Council of Churches. He is U.S. advisor for Face to Faith, a program of the Tony Blair Faith Foundation.

He earned the Emory University Medal in 2005, the First Freedom Award from the Council for America's First Freedom in 2008, and the Religious Liberty Award from the North American Religious Liberty Association in 2013. He holds a master's degree from Harvard Divinity School and a doctorate from Emory University.

Contact: April Kelly-Woessner at 717-361-1285 or kellya@etown.edu

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Elizabethtown College, located in historic Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, is a private coed institution offering more than four dozen liberal arts, fine and performing arts, science and engineering, business, communications and education degrees. Through personal attention, creative inspiration and academic rigor, Elizabethtown College students are encouraged to expand their intellectual curiosity and are given the opportunity to become a bigger part of the world through experiential learning-research, internships and study abroad. Elizabethtown College's overall commitment to Educate for Service is fulfilled as students are prepared intellectually, socially, aesthetically and ethically for lives of service and leadership.

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