New Hampshire Humanities Council: SHIFTING GROUND: RELIGION AND CIVIC LIFE IN AMERICA
"Shifting Ground: Religion and Civic Life in America," a two-year initiative by the New Hampshire Humanities Council, recognized that people, not just in New Hampshire but across the globe, are grappling with their religious and civic identities and the role religion is playing in their public and private lives. Our board, staff, and advisors chose religion in public life as the subject of our 2007-2008 council-initiated project in an effort to address public interest in and concern about the health of our democracy. Through an interlocking series of traditional and new program formats - two-day conference; 11 community forums using a modified version of the "civic reflection model;" and four public addresses we created safe spaces for thoughtful and productive dialogue, in order to shed light rather than heat on some of the most contentious public policy issues of our time.