[SEPT. 3, 2004]  Lincoln Christian College and Seminary is pleased to announce that Dr. Francis J. Beckwith, associate director of the J.M. Dawson Institute of Church-State Studies and associate professor of church-state studies at Baylor University, will present the annual James D. Strauss Lectures on Oct. 5 and 6.

Dr. Beckwith will deliver three lectures under the theme "Can the Public Square Be Religiously Neutral?" His latest book, "Law, Darwinism, & Public Education: The Establishment Clause and the Challenge of Intelligent Design," published in 2003 by Rowman & Littlefield, has received a great deal of attention nationwide for its significant contribution to the debate over the teaching of intelligent design in public schools.

Beckwith is also associate editor of the Journal of Church & State, published at Baylor. He has served as a research fellow at Princeton University and has held full-time faculty appointments at Trinity International University, Whittier College and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He is a nationally recognized authority on issues of church and state and the relationship between religion and public policy.

He is a graduate of Fordham University with a doctorate and a master's degree in philosophy. He also holds a master of juridical studies degree from the Washington University School of Law in St. Louis.

He has written or edited 11 books, primarily focusing on Christian interaction with social ethics and public policy issues. He has also published articles in over a dozen professional journals on philosophy, law, ethics and religion and in six scholarly encyclopedias.

The times, locations and titles of Beckwith's lectures are as follows:

• Tuesday, Oct. 5, 9:30 a.m., Earl C. Hargrove Chapel Auditorium: "Is Statecraft Soulcraft? Faith, Politics and Legal Neutrality"

• Tuesday, Oct. 5, 7 p.m., Restoration Hall, Room 49: "A Liberty Not Fully Evolved? Can Public Teachers Criticize Darwinism Without Violating the Constitution?"

• Wednesday, Oct. 6, 9:30 a.m., Earl C. Hargrove Chapel Auditorium: "Bioethics, Personhood and Jurisprudential Neutrality"

For more information see www.lccs.edu or contact Mrs. Lora Clements at (217) 732-3168, ext. 2254.

[News release from Lincoln Christian College and Seminary]

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