Exploring the church’s role in American political life

“No Church, No State? Interreligious Experiments in Building a Shared Civic Life” is the topic of St. Anne’s Episcopal Church’s adult forum at 11:30 a.m. on Sunday, Oct. 11, at the church’s Parish Hall, 199 Duke of Gloucester St., Annapolis, Md.

Heather Miller Rubens, executive director and Roman Catholic scholar at the Institute for Islamic, Christian, and Jewish Studies, will speak at the forum, which is the second of eight forums focusing on the church’s historic and contemporary roles in American political life.

Rubens is known for her work in helping the institute accomplish its goal of building “an interreligious society in which dialogue replaces division, friendship overcomes fear, and education eradicates ignorance.”

In 2026, she became the lead investigator in “a first-of-its-kind project evaluating how leading AI chatbots” answer questions about Islam, Christianity, Judaism, and interfaith relations.

Rubens holds degrees from Georgetown University, the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies, and the University of Chicago.

The public is invited to attend this forum, and the next forum which will be held at 11:30 a.m. on Sunday, Oct. 18, at the Parish Hall. On Oct. 18, guest speakers – Sen. Shaneka Henson and former state Sen. Ed Reilly – will talk about “Contemporary Perspectives on Work and Faith.”