Don Smedley
Senior fellow, center for faith in the public square
Research Interests: Politics and Religion; Religious Freedom; Role of Religion in the Public Square; Islam and Christianity; Natural Law Theory; Privileged Status of Scientific Knowledge
As a student activist at the University of California Don became involved in the free speech and civil rights movements where he challenged the prevailing presuppositions and truth claims of the day. It was this journey which led him to faith. What is real, what is true, what is right, always have been the guiding concepts in his personal and professional life. As a founding member of the Rivendell Institute Don seeks to respectfully engage contemporary culture as a scholar and activist particularly where faith intersects the public square in public and foreign policy, and the role of science. Don’s early work focused on Muslim-Christian engagement around such issues as religious freedom and reconciliation. He founded and led a Working Group on Islam and Christianity at Yale for seven years, has been a Teaching Fellow in Philosophy at Yale and Guest Lecturer in Religious Studies. Don is a longstanding member of Yale Religious Ministries, served nine years on the Board of Directors for the New England District of the Evangelical Free Church of America, and is a Fellow of Berkeley College, Yale. His loyalty is divided between the Boston Red Sox and the San Francisco Giants as he grew up watching Wille Mays play at Candlestick Park with his father, while his mom is a native of Massachusetts. Married for over thirty years, Don and his wife Sue live in New Haven, Connecticut, he is the proud father of a daughter who resides in North Carolina.
