The Witherspoon Institute is an independent research center that works to enhance public understanding of the moral foundations of free and democratic societies. Located in Princeton, New Jersey, the Institute promotes the application of fundamental principles of republican government and ordered liberty to contemporary problems through a variety of centers, research programs, seminars, consultations, and publications.

Law and Religion Consultation: Paper Drafts Available
Paper drafts from the consultation Law and Religion: Historical and Philosophical Perspectives are available in PDF format.This consultation brought together leading scholars in the fields of constitutional law, history and political philosophy to examine church state legal doctrines in American constitutional thought and discuss how the advance of secularism has changed the social and political dynamic between of law and religion in our public life.

The Social Costs of Pornography Consultation: Paper Drafts Available
Paper drafts from the Social Costs of Pornography Consultation are available in PDF format. This meeting assembled leading experts in the fields of psychiatry, psychology, neurophysiology, philosophy, sociology, law, and political theory to present a rigorously argued overview of the problem of pornography in our society and to make recommendations.

Online Media available from Reflections on Religious Liberty: A One-Day Symposium
The Witherspoon Institute in collaboration with the John Templeton Foundation brought Prof. Philip Hamburger (Columbia Law School), Angela C. Wu, Esq. (The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty), Prof. Thomas F. Farr (Georgetown University), Prof. Joseph Weiler (New York University), and Prof. John M. Finnis (Oxford University; Notre Dame Law School) together for a symposium on religious liberty. Online video from the symposium is now available.

Robert P. George is awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal
In a ceremony held on December 10th, Robert P. George was awarded the Presidential Citizens Medal in honor of his contributions to American public life. George is a Senior Fellow at the Witherspoon Institute and the McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence at Princeton University. George is the director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University and sits on the Presidents Council on Bioethics.

The Latin America Study Group
The Latin America Study Group is the result of the December 2007 conference "The Rise of the Left in Latin America". The conference revealed the usefulness of independent analysis of the political economic and social developments in Latin America through the ongoing interaction among scholars and opinion leaders. The scholars of the Study Group, under the direction of Prof. John Londregan (Princeton University), will meet twice a year to exchange views and insights about the problems facing the region, to initiate research projects that cross the traditional boundary between academia and opinion leadership, and to make public recommendations about policy in the region.

The Research Project in Islam and Civil Society
The Witherspoon Institute is pleased to announce the launch of the Research Project on Islam and Civil Society under the direction of Dr. Jennifer Bryson. Since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks significant research has been devoted to the ideology and media of violent extremists in Muslim communities. Far less attention has focused on the theology and media of Muslims who actively support civil society, including pluralism, and who undermine violent extremism. This project will seek to increase understanding in three main areas: Islamic theology and civil society, the circulation of Muslim media supporting civil society, and Jihad and civil society.