Who We Are
Mission, Vision, and Values
Value Proposition
The National Museum of American Religion invites all people to be inspired by the Constitution’s bold commitment to the ideal of religious freedom and to be moved to seek its preservation for future generations.
The National Museum of American Religion will be:
- Inclusive
- Honest
- Thoughtful
- Empathetic
- Relevant
- Inspiring
- Inquisitive
- Interactive
- Committed to accessibility
- Family-centric
Mission
The National Museum of American Religion explores the impact of religion on America, and America on religion. Committed to honesty and inclusivity, it tells stories of individuals, institutions, and movements that have formed the distinctive religious history of our nation. NMAR invites all people to discover how the ideal of religious freedom, as expressed in the Constitution and experienced by people throughout United States history, has shaped our social, political, economic and cultural lives from the period before European colonization to the present day.
Vision
The National Museum of American Religion will be the nationally recognized center for presenting, interpreting, and educating the public about the impact of America’s fragile experiment with religious freedom on the United States and the lives of people who have made this country their home. It seeks to inspire civil dialogue and debates about this complex and moving story, while also challenging assumptions and understandings about religion’s impact on history and contemporary life.
Advisory Committee
Reza Aslan
Professor Creative Writing, UC Riverside
John M. Barry
Author, Roger Williams and the Creation of the American Soul
Kit Bigelow
Advisory Board at Religious Freedom Institute
Ann D. Braude
Director, Women's Studies in Religion Program, Harvard Divinity School
Catherine Brekus
Charles Warren Professor of the History of Religion in America, Harvard Divinity School
David F. Holland
John A. Bartlett Professor of New England Church History, Harvard Divinity School
Diana Butler Bass
American Historian of Christianity
Jamil Drake
Assistant Professor of Religion, Florida State University
Roger Finke
Professor of Sociology, Religious Studies, and International Affairs, The Pennsylvania State University
Thomas Farr
President, Religious Freedom Institute
W. Cole Durham, Jr.
Founding Director, International Center for Law and Religion Studies
Hannah Smith
Senior Counsel, The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty
Spencer Fluhman
Executive Director, Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
Robert P. George
McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence, Princeton University
Linford D. Fisher
Associate Professor of History, Brown University
Eddie S. Glaude Jr.
Professor of Religion and African American Studies, Princeton University
Paul Harvey
Professor of History, University of Colorado - Colorado Springs
Thomas S. Kidd
Distinguished Professor of History, Baylor University
Joshua Goode
Associate Professor of Cultural Studies and History, Claremont Graduate University
Brian J. Grim
Founder and President, Religious Freedom and Business Foundation
Cherie Harder
President at The Trinity Forum
Philip Goff
Executive Director, Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture
Dr. Charles Haynes
Senior Fellow for Religious Freedom
Benjamin Hertzberg
Senior Principal–Research, Data, & Analytics Gartner Fellow, Center for the Study of Law and Religion
Peter Thuesen
Professor of Religious Studies at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis
Dr. Zuhdi Jasser
President, American Islamic Forum for Democracy
Alan Johnson
Director, Church History Museum, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Brett Scharffs
Director, International Center for Law and Religion Studies and Francis R. Kirkham Professor of Law, J. Reuben Clark Law School, BYU
Brad Hirschfield
President, The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership
Philip Goldberg
Author, Speaker and Religious Counselor
Dr. Azza Karam
Secretary General, Religions for Peace International
Anthony Picarello, Jr.
Associate General Secretary & General Counsel, U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
Dr. Diane L. Moore
Senior Lecturer on Religious Studies and Education, Harvard Divinity School
Suzanne Morgan
Sacred Space Ambassador, Council for a Parliament of the World’s Religions
Dr. Andrew Murphy
Professor of Political Science, Virginia Commonwealth University
Dr. Pamela S. Nadell
Patrick Clendened Chair in Women’s & Gender History and Director, Jewish Studies Program, American University
Dr. Josh Perelman
Chief Curator and Director of Exhibitions and Collections, National Museum of American Jewish History
Michael W. McConnell
Richard and Frances Mallery Professor, Stanford Law School; Director, Stanford Constitutional Law Center; Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution
Dr. Andrew Preston
Senior Lecturer in American History, University of Cambridge
Eric Rassbach
Deputy General Counsel, The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty
Melissa Rogers
Nonresident Senior Fellow – Governance Studies, The Brookings Institution
Marc Stern
Associate General Counsel, American Jewish Committee
Sherif Girgis
Author & Lawyer, Associate, Jones Day
Dr. Denise Spellberg
Professor of History and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Texas at Austin
Douglas Laycock
Professor of Law and Professor of Religious Studies, University of Virginia
Gary P. Zola
Executive Director, Jacob Rader Marcus Center of the American Jewish Archives; Edward M. Ackerman Family Distinguished Professor of the American Jewish Experience and Reform Jewish History, Hebrew Union College
Asma T. Uddin
Director of Strategy, The Center for Islam and Religious Freedom
Dr. Eric Lewis Williams
Curator of Religion, Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of African American History & Culture
Suhag Shukla
Executive Director, Hindu American Foundation
Robert Wilson-Black
CEO, Sojourners; fundraising consultant
Dr. Harry Stout
Jonathan Edwards Professor of American Religious History, Yale University
David Daniels III
Professor of Church History, McCormick Theological Seminary
Tammi J. Schneider
Professor of Religion, Claremont Graduate University
Dr. Lauren Turek
Assistant Professor of History and Director of Museum Studies, Trinity University
Sara Georgini
Historian and Series Editor, The Adams Papers, Massachusetts Historical Society
Richard Katskee
Legal Director, Americans United for Separation of Church and State
Mark Noll
Professor of History Emeritus, University of Notre Dame
Picture by William Koechling
John Turner
Professor of Religious Studies and History, George Mason University
Tisa Wenger
Associate Professor of American Religious History, Yale Divinity School
Marc Dollinger
Professor of Jewish Studies and Social Responsibility, San Francisco State University; author, Black Power, Jewish Politics: Reinventing the Alliance In The 1960s
Paul Louis Metzger
Professor of Theology & Culture, Multnomah University & Seminary; Director of The Institute for Cultural Engagement: New Wine, New Wineskins
Annette Marie Lantos Tillemann-Dick
Co-Chair of the Advisory Board of The Lantos Foundation for Human Rights
Christel Manning
Professor of Religious Studies, Sacred Heart University.
Barry Hankins
Professor of History, Baylor University; Editor, Journal of Church and State
Maria Mazzenga
Curator, American Catholic History Collections Special Collections, University Libraries, The Catholic University of America
Kathleen Cummings
Professor of History and American Studies, University of Notre Dame.
Religions Advisory Committee
- Alexander Stewart, Historian, Church of Our Lord Jesus Christ of the Apostolic Faith
- Alfred T. Day III, General Secretary General Commission on Archives and History United Methodist Church
- Anthony Picarello, General Counsel at U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
- Bill Kostlevy, Director, Brethren Historical Library and Archives at Church of the Brethren
- Bradley Hirschfield, President of the National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership (CLAL)
- Rev. Dr. Daniel N. Harmelink, Executive Director of the Concordia Historical Institute
- Garth Brokaw, American Baptist Homes and Caring Ministries (ABHCM)
- Heather Gonzales, Vice President and COO, National Association of Evangelicals
- Imam Mohammed Magid, Executive Religious Director of the All Dulles Area Muslim Society (ADAMS)
- Jasjit Singh, Executive Director of the Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF)
- Jim Winkler, President and General Secretary, National Council of Churches
- Zuhdi Jasser, President and Founder of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy (AIFD)
- Nancy Taylor, Presbyterian Historical Society (PHS), Executive Director
- Rev. Margaret Rose, Ecumenical and Interreligious Deputy to the Presiding Bishop, The Episcopal Church
- Robert H. Stockman, Director, Wilmette Institute
- Darrin Rogers, Director, Flower Pentecostal Heritage Center at General Council of the Assemblies of God
- Stan Ingersol, Archives Manager at Nazarene Archives
- Stephen Murray, Executive Director, Congregational Library and Archives
- David Trim, Director of Archives, Statistics, and Research at the World Headquarters of Seventh-day Adventists.
- Dr. Mohammad Al-Issa, Secretary-General of the Muslim World League
- Maria Mazzenga, Curator, American Catholic History Collections, Special Collections, University Libraries, The Catholic University of America
The Museum
Explore the planned in-museum experience for the National Museum of American Religion in our Master Study.
Rendering of the outside of the National Museum of American Religion
The Museum will be located near the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
Rendering of the Introductory Experience to the Museum
The Museum will feature a “Recording Booth” that will be used to record and collect visitors’ reactions to exhibits and questions.
Rendering of an Interactive Exhibit
This raised digital map will show religious immigration patterns to and within the United States.
