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Aspen Ideas to Go Podcast: Faith and the Public Square

August 6, 2015  • Tricia Johnson, Guest Blogger

The “Aspen Ideas to Go” podcast is a weekly show featuring fascinating speakers who have presented at the Aspen Ideas Festival and other public programs offered by the Aspen Institute—including Aspen Words, the Alma and Joseph Gildenhorn Book Series, and various events around the country. For a curated listening experience subscribe to the podcast on iTunes or listen to each episode on the Aspen Ideas website

Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.) discusses faith and public life with Jim Wallis. The conversation begins from an agreement that the separation of church and state is imperative but that moral values should not be segregated from public life. Coons, who graduated from Yale University Law and Divinity Schools has said, “I think it’s foundational to our country that if we allow people to choose their path of faith, they must of course be also free, welcome, celebrated, to choose not to have faith in a supreme being.”

Coons was elected to Vice President Joe Biden’s former Senate seat in 2010. He serves on the Appropriations, Foreign Relations, Judiciary, Small Business and Entrepreneurship, and Ethics Committees and is the ranking member of two subcommittees. Wallis is president and founder of Sojourners, a nonprofit faith-based organization whose mission is to “put faith into action for social justice.” He is a New York Times bestselling author, public theologian, speaker, and international commentator on ethics and public life. He is the author of 11 books and the editor of Sojourners Magazine.

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