In October 2025, we were pleased to welcome Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush, President & CEO of the Interfaith Alliance to our Tachmindji Event at American University to speak on the topic “Faith and Courage in Authoritarian Times.”(Video available here.)

This year, on November 8, 2026, we are pleased to welcome Rev. Raushenbush back to continue and expand the conversation, offering a lecture entitled “Democracy as a Reality.”

The in-person event will be at the School of International Service (Abramson Family Founders’ Room) on the campus of American University, 4400 Massachusetts Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20016.

RSVP for this In-Person Event

Convenient parking is available beneath the SIS building. Parking kiosk is in elevator lobby: $2.00 per hour. Enter the garage driveway at the corner of Nebraska Ave. NW and New Mexico Ave. NW for easiest access.

The evening will include Raushenbush’s presentation, audience Q&A, and a reception. The event is free and open to the public, but RSVPs are required. Please use the form below.

This event is made possible by a generous endowment from Diane Tachmindji for the promotion of intra and interfaith dialogue.

About our Speaker

The Rev. Paul Brandeis Raushenbush is President and CEO of Interfaith Alliance. An ordained Baptist minister, Rev. Raushenbush is a longtime interfaith leader and renowned advocate for civil rights and religious freedom. He works with affiliates, networks and leaders across the country to forge powerful alliances among people of diverse faiths and beliefs to build a resilient, inclusive multi-faith democracy.

Raushenbush speaks regularly at colleges, faith communities and institutes around the country – including The Chautauqua Institute, the Center for American Progress, Council on Foreign Relations, the New America Foundation and the Aspen Institute. He is a frequent commentator on issues of religion, civil rights and social justice in national media outlets. He has published two books and contributed essays to several volumes on faith in public life.‍

Raushenbush also hosts the weekly podcast and radio show “The State of Belief,” in partnership with Religion News Service. Notable guests have included Timothy Snyder, Skye Perryman, Rep. Jamie Raskin, Rep. Eric Swalwell, Katherine Stewart, Bishop William Barber, Rabbi Sharon Brous, Najeeba Sayeed, E.J. Dionne and Rob Reiner.

Prior to coming to Interfaith Alliance, Rev. Raushenbush served as senior vice president of the Auburn Seminary, and as the founding and executive editor of HuffPost Religion. Rev. Raushenbush has also served as associate dean of religious life and the chapel at Princeton University and as the senior advisor for public affairs and innovation at Interfaith America.

Rev. Raushenbush is married to the author Brad Gooch, and lives in New York City where they are raising their two children. He is the great-grandson of Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis and the great-grandson of the theologian Reverend Walter Rauschenbusch.