Time: 12:00pm – 1:00pm EST

Location: 406 Dirksen Senate Office Building

RSVP: rsvp@faithandlaw.org

It’s no longer only physical abuse being perpetrated against India’s Christians. A new and potentially much greater threat is on the rise today.

Dr. K.P. Yohannan has been crisscrossing the globe for the last 40 years, challenging the body of Christ to discipleship. He is the founder and international director of Gospel for Asia, a Christian mission organization that has brought the Good News of Christ to millions in South Asia over the last three decades.

Born in India, Dr. Yohannan, at the age of 16, responded to the Lord’s call to serve Him in North India. In 1974, he came to the United States, where he received his theological training and pastored a church for four years.  The Lord reminded Yohannan of the countless millions in Asia still waiting to learn of His love for them. In response, he resigned his pastorate, and he and his wife, Gisela, started what is known today as Gospel for Asia. Today, the ministry supports thousands of national workers and vibrant congregations throughout South Asia. Additionally, Gospel for Asia’s Bridge of Hope program cares for tens of thousands of children, helping them break out of the generational curses of poverty and hopelessness.

Location: TBA

RSVP: rsvp@faithandlaw.org

George Weigel, Distinguished Senior Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, is a Catholic theologian and one of America’s leading public intellectuals.

A native of Baltimore, he was educated at St. Mary’s Seminary College in his native city, and at the University of St. Michael’s College in Toronto. In 1975, Weigel moved to Seattle where he was Assistant Professor of Theology and Assistant (later Acting) Dean of Studies at the St. Thomas Seminary School of Theology in Kenmore. In 1977, Weigel became Scholar-in-Residence at the World Without War Council of Greater Seattle, a position he held until 1984. In 1984-85 Weigel was a fellow of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C. There, he wrote Tranquillitas Ordinis: The Present Failure and Future Promise of American Catholic Thought on War and Peace(Oxford University Press, 1987).

Weigel is the author or editor of twenty other books, including The Final Revolution: The Resistance Church and the Collapse of Communism (Oxford, 1992); The Truth of Catholicism: Ten Controversies Explored (HarperCollins, 2001); The Courage To Be Catholic: Crisis, Reform, and the Future of the Church (Basic Books, 2002); Letters to a Young Catholic (Basic, 2004); The Cube and the Cathedral: Europe, America, and Politics Without God (Basic, 2005); God’s Choice: Pope Benedict XVI and the Future of the Catholic Church (HarperCollins, 2005); Faith, Reason, and the War Against Jihadism (Doubleday, 2007); Against the Grain: Christianity and Democracy, War and Peace (Crossroad, 2008); and The End and the Beginning: Pope John Paul II–The Victory of Freedom, the Last Years, the Legacy (Doubleday, 2010). Weigel has written essays, op-ed columns, and reviews for the major opinion journals and newspapers in the United States. A frequent guest on television and radio, he is also Vatican analyst for NBC News. His weekly column, “The Catholic Difference,” is syndicated to sixty newspapers around the United States. His scholarly work and his journalism are regularly translated into the major European languages.

From 1989 through June 1996, Weigel was president of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, where he led a wide-ranging, ecumenical and inter-religious program of research and publication on foreign and domestic policy issues. From June 1996, as a Senior Fellow of the Center, Weigel prepared a major study of the life, thought, and action of Pope John Paul II. Witness to Hope: The Biography of Pope John Paul II was published to international acclaim in the Fall of 1999, in English, French, Italian, and Spanish editions. Polish, Portuguese, Slovak, Czech, and Slovenian editions were published in 2000. A Russian edition was published in 2001, a German edition in 2002, and a Romanian edition in 2007; Chinese and Ukrainian editions are in preparation. A documentary film based on the book was released in the fall of 2001 and has won numerous prizes.

Weigel has been awarded thirteen honorary doctorates, the papal cross Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice, and the Gloria Artis Gold Medal by the Republic of Poland. He serves on the boards of directors of several organizations dedicated to human rights and the cause of religious freedom and is a member of the editorial board of First Things.

George Weigel and his wife, Joan, have three children and one grandchild, and live in North Bethesda, Maryland.

Location: TBA

RSVP: rsvp@faithandlaw.org

Location: TBA

RSVP: rsvp@faithandlaw.org

Previous Lecturers Include:

Time: 12-1 p.m. EST

Location: 406 Dirksen Senate Office Building

Matthew Staver is the Dean and Professor of Law at Liberty University, as well as the Director of the Liberty Center for Law and Policy.  After completing his studies in religion and becoming a pastor, Dean Staver entered law school and the legal profession. Following law school, he worked in private practice with the law firm of Zimmerman, Shuffield, Kiser and Sutcliffe in Orlando, Florida. In 1989, Dean Staver became the Founder and President of Staver & Associates, a statewide law firm with offices in Orlando and Tallahassee, Florida. He also was the Founder and President of The Staver Group, a statewide governmental consulting organization. A few of his many clients included the Orlando Magic NBA basketball team, the University of Florida, Marriott Corporation, Hilton Hotels, Hyatt Hotels, Taco Bell, Denny’s Restaurants, AIG Insurance, The Florida Medical Association, The Florida Nursing Association, and Florida Hospital.

In 1989, Dean Staver became the Founder, President and General Counsel of Liberty Counsel and currently serves as Chairman of the Board. Liberty Counsel is a litigation, education and policy organization with offices in Orlando, Florida, Lynchburg, Virginia, and hundreds of affiliate attorneys in all 50 states. Liberty Counsel was one of the first religious liberty litigation organizations in the country. In the early 1990s, Dean Staver was one of the first to pioneer a new legal strategy and theory in litigating religious liberty cases, using the First Amendment Free Speech Clause.

As the Founder of Liberty Counsel, Dean Staver has been extensively involved in media. On average he conducted over 1,300 media interviews each year, resulting in several thousand print articles, radio broadcasts and TV programs. He has appeared on every TV and cable news network, on almost every network news program, and has conducted media interviews for many international media outlets. Dean Staver has produced and hosted hundreds of media programs for Liberty Counsel’s daily radio program Freedom’s Call, daily radio program Faith and Freedom, and weekly TV program Law & Justice.

Dean Staver serves as Director of the Liberty Center for Law and Policy (LCLP), a partnership between Liberty Counsel and Liberty University School of Law. He also was involved in the founding and development of Liberty University School of Law long before its physical inception.

A few of Dean Staver’s academic memberships and honors include Alpha Mu Gamma language honors; Moot Court Board, 1985-87; Captain, National Moot Court Team, 1986-87; Region IV National Moot Court Competition Championship Team, 1987; and The Order of Barristers. He was a recipient of Who’s Who Among Students in American Colleges and Universities, 1980 (selected by classmates and faculty).

Dean Staver has authored over ten books, including Eternal Vigilance: Knowing and Protecting Your Religious Freedom; Same-Sex Marriage: Putting Every Household at Risk; Faith and Freedom: A Complete Handbook for Defending Your Religious Rights; Take Back America; Religion and the Future of America; Religious Expression in Public Schools; Judicial Tyranny; Political Activity of Nonprofit Organizations; and Union Membership and its Constitutional Implications. Dean Staver has over 210 published legal opinions, has written several hundred articles on religious freedom and constitutional law, and has published ten law review and journal articles.

Dean Staver is an AV-rated attorney and is Board Certified in Appellate Practice. At one time, he was one of only two attorneys double Board Certified in Workers’ Compensation and Appellate Practice in the state of Florida. In addition to writing numerous briefs before the United States Supreme Court, he has argued twice before the High Court. As one of the leading constitutional litigators in the country, he is admitted to every federal court of appeals in the country and has personally argued before most of them. He has conducted many CLE and CEU courses certified by state bar associations or government agencies.

Dean Staver reads Classical Hebrew, Aramaic, Syriac and Koine Greek, and is the author of Quest for the Historical Jesus: An Inquiry Into the Historicity of the Passion Predictions. He is married to Anita L. Staver, who is also an attorney and serves as President of Liberty Counsel.