The Witherspoon Institute is an independent research center that works to enhance public understanding of the moral foundations of free and democratic societies. Located at Whelan Hall (pictured) in Princeton, New Jersey, the Institute promotes the application of fundamental principles of republican government and ordered liberty to contemporary problems through a variety of research and educational ventures.

Challenges to Religious Liberty
in the Twenty-First Century
Edited by Gerard V. Bradley
From Cambridge University Press comes a collection of essays , Challenges to Religious Liberty in the Twenty-First Century. These papers were presented at a conference of the Simon Center on Religion and the Constitution titled "Law and Religion: Historical and Philosophical Perspectives", and are edited by Gerard V. Bradley (Notre Dame Law School). Almost everyone today affirms the importance and merit of religious liberty. But religious liberty is being challenged by new questions (for example, use of the niqab or church adoption services for same-sex couples) and new forces (such as globalization and Islamism). Combined, these make the meaning of religious liberty in the twenty-first century uncertain. This collection of essays by ten of the world's leading scholars on religious liberty takes aim at these issues. The book is arranged around five specific challenges to religious liberty today: the state's responsibility to prevent coercion and intimidation of believers by others within the same faith community; the U.S.'s basic moral responsibilities to promote religious liberty abroad; how to understand and apply the traditional right of conscientious objection in today's circumstances; the distinctive problems presented by globalization; and the viability today of an originalist interpretation of the First Amendment religion clauses. More...


Robert George Appointed to U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom
April 2, 2012
Robert P. George, the Witherspoon Institute's Herbert W. Vaughan Senior Fellow, has been appointed to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF). The appointment was made by Speaker of the United States House of Representatives John Boehner. The USCIRF was created by Congress as part of the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998. The nine members of the independent, bipartisan Federal agency are appointed by the President of the United States and the leaders of both parties in the House and Senate. More...


Religious Freedom: Why Now? Defending an Embattled Human Right
Religious freedom is under sustained pressure today around the world. In some places, it is fair to say that religious freedom is under siege. This book is a response to that sobering fact. For the last three years, the Witherspoon Institute's Task Force on International Religious Freedom has examined the various dimensions of the challenge faced by religious freedom, and has deliberated on the most effective policy responses that can be undertaken by the United States government, and by other governments around the world. The return of an interdisciplinary meeting of experts from the fields of psychology, sociology, law, philosophy, theology, political science, and international relations, this statement offers a robust consideration of religious freedom's present condition and the prospects for its future. More...


The Stem Cell Debates: Lessons from Science and Politics
In its inaugural report, the Witherspoon Council on Ethics and the Integrity of Science considers the proper relationship between science, ethics, and politics by examining the most prominent science-related controversy of the past decade: the stem cell debates. These debates touched on fundamental questions concerning the governance of science and the moral status of embryonic human life. More than just a scholarly assessment of those debates, this report seeks to improve the public understanding of how science and democratic politics relate, including the responsibilities of scientists and policymakers. We consider the inevitable interplay between science and ethics and the conflicts of interest that arise when scientists are both advisors to policymakers and petitioners for their allocations. Among the reports most crucial lessons is that, in our system of participatory republican government, we are responsible for considering not only the potential benefits of scientific research but also the ethical implications of that research. More...


Herbert W. Vaughan, Philanthropist, 1920-2011
The Witherspoon Institute mourns the passing away of Herbert W. Vaughan, lawyer, preservationist and philanthropist. Vaughan was a passionate scholar of government and history, particularly the United States Constitution, which he regarded as the greatest practical achievement of political science. He was a member of the board of directors of the Witherspoon Institute, a research center that supports the work of scholars interested in western moral political thought and the principles and institutions of American government. A fellow of the Massachusetts Historical Society and a member of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University, Vaughan endowed lecture series at Princeton and at his alma mater, Harvard Law School, to advance the understanding of the core doctrines of American constitutionalism. More...


Embryo: A Defense of Human Life, Second Edition
by Robert P. George and Christopher Tollefsen
The Witherspoon Institute is pleased to announce the publication of the revised, second edition of Embryo: A Defense of Human Life by Robert P. George (Princeton University) and Christopher Tollefsen (University of South Carolina), available in paperback and eBook at Amazon.com.

National debates over embryonic-stem-cell research have divided citizens and lawmakers alike, as we seek a reasoned approach to these issues that honors our highest scientific and moral ideals. In this timely consideration of the nature and rights of human embryos, George and Tollefsen make a compelling case that we as a society should neither condone nor publicly fund research that kills or harms human beings at any stage of development including the embryonic stage. More...


Yasser Khalil Featured in British Council Video
Yasser Khalil, a young Egyptian, speaks about the importance of a rigorous discussion of religious freedom in Muslim and non-Muslim majority countries. Mr. Khalil was a participant in the Institute's Islam and Religious Freedom seminar, and here reflects on how the seminar and Dr. Jennifer Bryson shaped his understanding of religious freedom in light of contemporary events in the Middle East.

This video was produced by Generation 9/11, a project of the British Council USA, and can be also be viewed on YouTube.


The New Family Structure Study of the Population Research Center at the University of Texas at Austin
August 8, 2011
The Witherspoon Institute is pleased to support the New Family Structure Study (NFSS) at the Population Research Center of the University of Texas at Austin. The study is directed by professors Mark Regnerus (Principal Investigator) and Cynthia Osborne (Co-Investigator), who are in turn guided by a research team made up of a diverse group of family scholars. The members of the NFSS research team include scholars who hold divergent views on the normative questions in contemporary debates over marriage and the family.


Virtuosity in Business:
Invisible Law Guiding the Invisible Hand
by Kevin T. Jackson
The University of Pennsylvania Press has recently published Virtuosity in Business: Invisible Law Guiding the Invisible Hand by Kevin T. Jackson, Daniel Janssen Chair in Corporate Social Responsibility at Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management, Universite Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium, and Senior Fellow of the Witherspoon Institute. The recent global financial crisis raises pressing issues that are not exclusively economic. The health of the economy, Kevin T. Jackson contends, reflects the moral health of the wider culture: ethics must be considered along with economics to understand world markets, especially now that globalization and other forces have increasingly complicated the regulation of transnational corporate conduct. Virtuosity in Business calls on businesspeople and ethicists to expand their thinking by stressing the profound relevance of philosophy to business and economics. More...


More God, Less Crime by Byron R. Johnson
The Templeton Press has recently published More God, Less Crime: Why Faith Matter and How It Could Matter More by Byron R. Johnson. Johnson is Distinguished Professor of the Social Sciences, Director of the Institute for Studies of Religion, and director of the Program on Prosocial Behavior, all at Baylor University. He is also a Senior Fellow at the Witherspoon Institute. In More God, Less Crime renowned criminologist Byron R. Johnson proves that religion can be a powerful antidote to crime. The book describes how faith communities, congregations, and faith-based organizations are essential in forming partnerships necessary to provide the human and spiritual capital to effectively address crime, offender rehabilitation, and the substantial aftercare problems facing former prisoners. More...


Natural Law, Natural Rights, and American Constitutionalism
As we honor Martin Luther King, Jr., the Witherspoon Institute is proud to announce a public preview of a new online academic resource dedicated to natural law and the American tradition. Today is an apt occasion to learn more deeply about that great tradition, to which, King said, we are the heirs through the "magnificent words" of the "architects of our republic." The aim of the Witherspoon Institutes project is to create a nonpartisan, educational website on Natural Law, Natural Rights, and American Constitutionalism, which will serve as an online resource center for students, teachers, and educated citizens to learn about the intellectual traditions of natural law and natural rights, particularly within American political and constitutional history. More...