BJC acquires Center for Faith, Justice and Reconciliation

The Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty has acquired the Center for Faith, Justice and Reconciliation, a Virginia-based entity that billed itself as “a theological think tank for building beloved community.”

The center grew out of the Baptist Theological Seminary in Richmond, Va., which opened in 1991 as an alternative to the six Southern Baptist Convention seminaries and closed in 2019.

The BJC—an 87-year-old coalition of 15 Baptist groups based in Washington, D.C.—is adding the center as the home for its Project for Race and Religious Freedom, launched in 2021.

The BJC Center for Faith, Justice and Reconciliation will host a new program called the Religious Freedom Immersion Experience, scheduled to launch in early 2024. The center also will continue its annual Religious Freedom Mobile Institute.

“Across the organization, BJC recognizes that religious freedom has been white too long,” BJC Executive Director Amanda Tyler said. “BJC acquiring the center deepens our commitment to working for racial justice as a critical part of our mission to ensure religious freedom for all.”

Sabrina E. Dent, president of the center since January 2022 and cohost of the “Sister Act” podcast, will be director of the BJC Center for Faith, Justice and Reconciliation. Dent served on the BJC board of directors but resigned her board post to join the staff. She was a BJC fellow in 2015.

Dent worked previously as curator of education in Vanderbilt Divinity School’s Public Theology and Racial Justice Collaborative, as senior faith adviser with Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and in several roles with the Religious Freedom Center of the Freedom Forum Institute. She is a former president of the Interfaith Council of Greater Richmond.

“The BJC Center for Faith, Justice and Reconciliation will broaden the conversation about religious freedom,” Dent said. “For too long, we’ve had a narrow understanding of religious freedom that has shut too many people out of the conversation.

“Religious freedom impacts so many issues, including voting rights. How can we ensure religious freedom without equal access to the ballot box? Who benefits when religious freedom is ideologically boxed off from other issues? These are the types of questions we ask as this work continues into a new phase.”

Lynn Brinkley, chair of the BJC board of directors, said she was “thrilled” about the acquisition of the Center for Faith, Justice and Reconciliation.

“This gain will strengthen BJC’s mission, educational programming and influence by embracing a more inclusive understanding of religious freedom,” Brinkley said. “May this accomplishment lead to a more unified world that is just and reconciled.”

With information provided by Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons of BJC communications.