The Center

On the birthday of George Washington, February 22, 2008, the Witherspoon Institute created the Center on Religion and the Constitution. Under the direction of Gerard V. Bradley, the Center's mission is to develop and promote a sound constitutional philosophy of religion. The Center is located at Whelan Hall in Princeton, New Jersey.

In keeping with the Witherspoon Institute’s mission to enhance public understanding of the principles of free and democratic societies, the Center on Religion and the Constitution is dedicated to examining church-state legal doctrines in American constitutional thought, and restoring and defending the understanding of religious liberty and the place of religion in American public life that our Nation’s founders set forth in the text of the Constitution. To achieve these goals, scholars associated with the Center explore historical, sociopolitical and philosophical influences on the American constitutional tradition.

The Center on Religion and the Constitution conducts research, hosts conferences and seminars, sponsors public lectures, and publishes scholarly writings by members of its academic committee and other scholars associated with the Center.