Melissa Rogers

Rogers grew up a member of the Baptist Church.[https://web.archive.org/web/20170227062435/http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865580074/US-governments-faith-based-initiative-moves-ahead-while-dodging-controversy.html?pg=all "U.S. government's faith-based initiative moves ahead while dodging controversy"]. Deseret News, By Matthew Brown. May 16, 2013 Rogers is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Baylor University and earned a Juris Doctor from the University of Pennsylvania Law School.{{cite web|url=http://www.bayloralumniassociation.com/baylor_line/past_issues/win09_150.asp|title=Baylor Alumni Association|work=bayloralumniassociation.com}}{{cite web|url=http://www.christianexaminer.com/Articles/Articles%20Mar13/Art_Mar13_31.html|title=White House appoints Melissa Rogers to lead faith-based office - Christian Examiner Newspapers|work=christianexaminer.com}}

Rogers served as the director of the Center for Religion and Public Affairs at Wake Forest University Divinity School[http://content.usatoday.com/communities/Religion/post/2010/03/who-president-obama-seeks-out-for-spiritual-advice/1#.WBvMqskxCHk "Obama relies on a 'spiritual cabinet' for prayer, inspiration"]. Leslie Miller, USA TODAY, Mar 10, 2010 and a non-resident senior fellow at the Brooking Institution. She served as general counsel of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty. From 2000 to 2003, she directed the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, a grant project of the Pew Charitable Trusts.

In 2008 Rogers co-authored a casebook, Religious Freedom and the Supreme Court,{{Cite web|url=https://www.baylor.edu/washington/index.php?id=950951|title=Our Distinguished Panelists|website=Baylor in Washington {{!}} Baylor University|language=en-US|access-date=2018-11-13}} published by Baylor University Press.

In 2009, President Barack Obama appointed Rogers to serve as the chair of his Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, a panel of faith and civic leaders from different religious and political backgrounds.{{cite web|url=http://www.christianpost.com/news/white-house-names-new-faith-based-office-director-91781/|title=White House Names New Faith-Based Office Director|work=Christian Post|date=13 March 2013 }}{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-faith/pastor-and-rabbi-agree-melissa-roberts-is-good-choice-for-white-house-faith-office/2013/03/13/dfb4dfae-8bea-11e2-9f54-f3fdd70acad2_story.html|title=Pastor and rabbi agree: Melissa Rogers is good choice for White House faith office|author=Rev. Joel Hunter|date=13 March 2013|newspaper=Washington Post}} In 2010, President Obama issued an executive order instructing federal agencies to implement a number of the panel's recommendations. That year Rogers led a group of religious and civil rights leaders in drafting Religious Expression in American Public Life: A Joint Statement of Current Law, which indicates their points of agreement with the law of church and state as it applies to religious expression in the public square. The First Freedom Center gave Rogers its First Freedom Award.http://www.firstfreedom.org/PDF/2010%20Awards%20Gala.pdf {{Dead link|date=February 2022}}

In 2011 Rogers was named to a subgroup of the U.S. State Department’s Religion and Foreign Policy Working Group.{{cite web|url=http://bjconline.org/white-house-official-speaks-at-2014-rlc-luncheon/|title=White House official speaks at 2014 RLC Luncheon|work=Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty}} Before her appointment, Rogers had been critical of the Obama administration's handling of some church-state issues in an interview with the Huffington Post with respect to the Affordable Care Act's contraception mandate. She stated that the administration erred in only exempting houses of worship from the ACA's requirement that employers include contraception coverage in their health insurance policies. Her ideas later became the basis for the administration's accommodation of the interests of a wider set of religious entities.{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/obamas-breach-of-faith-over-contraceptive-ruling/2012/01/29/gIQAY7V5aQ_story.html|title=Obama's breach of faith over contraceptive ruling|author=E.J. Dionne Jr.|date=29 January 2012|newspaper=Washington Post}}{{cite web|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/13/melissa-rogers-white-house-faith-based_n_2868413.html|title=Melissa Rogers Appointed To Lead White House Office Of Faith-Based And Neighborhood Partnerships|work=The Huffington Post|date=13 March 2013 }}

In 2014, the Baptist Joint Committee gave Rogers its J.M. Dawson Religious Liberty Award. In 2015, Rogers continued to lead the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.[http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/white-house-looks-to-curb-anti-muslim-sentiment/article/2578316 "White House looks to curb anti-Muslim sentiment"]. Washington Examiner, Dec 14, 2015

After a Sikh man in California was attacked and severely injured, Rogers represented the Obama administration at his house of worship in Rockville, Maryland, where she spoke out against hate crimes.[https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/10/27/isis-terrorist-lets-get-him-sikh-mans-attacker-found-guilty-of-hate-crime/ "‘ISIS. Terrorist. Let’s get him’: Sikh man’s attacker found guilty of hate crime"]. Washington Post, By Derek Hawkins October 27, 2016. She also spoke at a commemorative service one year after the Charleston Church Shootings.[http://www.christianpost.com/news/2000-gather-for-charleston-church-shootings-1st-anniversary-pastors-wife-recounts-his-last-moments-165359/ "2,000 Gather for Charleston Church Shooting's 1st Anniversary; Pastor's Wife Recounts His Last Moments"]. Christian post, Anugrah Kumar, June 18, 2016

• Ronald B. Flowers, Melissa Rogers and Steve Green, Religious Freedom and the Supreme Court. Baylor University Press, 2008
• Melissa Rogers, Faith in American Public Life. Baylor University Press, 2019

{{reflist|30em}}

• {{C-SPAN|80435}}
• [https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/ofbnp-council-final-report.pdf Advisory Council on Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships, A New Era of Partnerships, ]
• Melissa Rogers, [https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2014/11/26/uniting-end-anti-semitism] Uniting to End Anti-Semitism,, White House blog
• [https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/administration/eop/ofbnp White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships]

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Category:Baylor University alumni

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Category:Biden administration personnel