By Linda Waggener, assistant director of university communications
CAMPBELLSVILLE, Ky. – National spokespersons, Dr. Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, and Holly Hollman, general counsel of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty in Washington, D.C., will be at Campbellsville University Tuesday, April 1.
Their address, titled “Church and State and Religious Liberty Issues,” is sponsored by CU’s Kentucky Heartland Institute on Public Policy (KHIPP).
The event, which is free and open to the public, is scheduled for 5 p.m. in the Little Auditorium.
“We have two outstanding guests who will bring divergent views on these important issues,” said John Chowning, vice president for church and external relations and executive assistant to the president, who founded KHIPP.
Chowning said both Land and Hollman are recognized as national spokesmen and experts on this area of public policy. He said they are both seen often on Fox, CNN, ABC, NBC and other national news media.
“We are honored to have these prominent speakers on our campus. We invite everyone to come and learn from their expertise in church and state and religious liberty,” Chowning said.
Land is president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s official entity assigned to address social, moral and ethical concerns, with particular attention to their impact on American families and their faith.
Land has been recognized as one of the ten top church-state experts “politicians will call on when they get serious about addressing an important public policy issue,” Chowning said.
Land co-hosts a 30-minute nationally syndicated weekday radio talk show and a syndicated live caller-driven radio program. He deals with current issues from a Biblical perspective.
Land is a native Houstonian and a sixth-generation Texan. His record as a pro-family advocate is capped by his proudest accomplishment — his over 35-year marriage to his wife Dr. Rebekah Land (a psychotherapist in private practice) and his personal investment with her in the lives of their three adult children, Jennifer, Richard Jr. and Rachel.
Prior to becoming he Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission’s president, Land served as Criswell College’s vice president for academic affairs from 1980 to 1988. He had taught as professor of theology and church history at that institution since 1975.
Land graduated with the bachelor of arts degree (magna cum laude) from Princeton University and with the doctor of philosophy degree from Oxford University in England. He also received a master of theology (Honors Program) degree from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary.
The Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, of which Hollman is general counsel, is a religious liberty education and advocacy group formed seven decades ago.
Hollman provides legal analysis on church-state issues that arise before Congress, the courts and administrative agencies. Her work includes preparing friend-of-the-court submissions, presentations for research, institutions and religious organizations and issuing briefings for congressional staff.
She writes a regular column for the BJC’s monthly publication, “Report from the Capital.” In addition, she consults with national print media on matters relating to church-state relations and has appeared in leading publications including The Washington Post, USA, Today, The Christian Science Monitor and Christian Century.
Hollman has also appeared on National Public Radio, CNN, C-SPAN, Fox News Channel, NBC Nightly News and “Religion & Ethics Newsweekly” on PBS.
Prior to her work at the Baptist Joint Committee, Hollman was an attorney in private practice specializing in employment law and litigation. She practiced in firms in the District of Columbia and in Nashville, Tenn.
She is a member of the U.S. Supreme Court, District of Columbia and Tennessee bars.
Hollman graduated with a bachelor of arts degree in politics from Wake Forest University. She received her juris doctor degree from the University of Tennessee College of Law, where she was a member of the Tennessee Law Review and the National Moot Court Team.
Hollman and her husband, Jay Smith, have two sons and live in Falls Church, Va.
For more information about the KHIPP event, contact Chowning at jechowning@campbellsville.edu or (270) 789-5520.
Campbellsville University is a private, comprehensive institution located in South Central Kentucky. Founded in 1906, Campbellsville University is affiliated with the Kentucky Baptist Convention and has an enrollment of 2,405 students who represent 98 Kentucky counties, 25 states and 29 foreign nations. Listed in U.S.News & World Report’s 2008 “America’s Best Colleges,” CU is ranked 22nd in “Best Baccalaureate Colleges” in the South and eighth in the South for “Great Schools, Great Prices.” CU has been ranked 15 consecutive years with U.S.News & World Report. The university has also been named to America’s Best Christian Colleges®. Campbellsville University is located 82 miles southwest of Lexington, Ky., and 80 miles southeast of Louisville, Ky. Dr. Michael V. Carter is in his ninth year as president.