Description

The Religion and Theology Program seeks to deepen public knowledge of religion and to draw on the wisdom of faith traditions to advance shared understanding. Partnering with scholars of religion, faith leaders, journalists, artists, museum curators, and communities of faith, our work strengthens understanding of religious diversity, promotes more curious and civil public conversations, and stimulates faith-rooted efforts to envision and build a more just, compassionate, and democratic world.      Extending from this mission – and building upon the Luce Foundation’s longstanding attention to religious and racial diversity – a central objective of the program is to deepen knowledge and understanding of the diversity and complexity of American religion. This has been the focus of the program’s two most recent grants competitions (RFPs), and it has also motivated a series of larger grants to research universities and other organizations, from support for the Crossroad Project at Princeton University to funding for Interfaith America’s Black Interfaith initiative.     Given the program’s current work and goals, and in light of the Foundation’s growing concern with support for AAPI communities, funding for work that deepens understanding of Asian American religion represents both a natural fit for the Religion and Theology Program and an area of potential growth. The proposed grant would support a project focused squarely on that topic, while also focusing specifically on law, governance, and the state. The result will be the first edited volume to investigate the interactions between Asian American religions, law, and the state, to be co-edited by Melissa Borja (University of Michigan) and Dusty Hoesly (Associate Director of the Walter H. Capps Center at UC Santa Barbara).    This project productively complements work that Luce is currently supporting through other grants focused on AAPI religion, including a large grant to the Berkeley Center for the Study of Religion to support the Asian Pacific American Religions Research Initiative (APARRI). In addition to facilitating the publication of the new volume, we hope the grant will also serve to grow the Religion and Theology Program’s network of knowledge makers focused on Asian American religion.