“Religious Liberty in a Time of Trouble” was the theme of the 2025 Atlantic Union Attorneys’ Conference, held October 24–25 in Stamford, Connecticut. The annual event brought together attorneys and Public Affairs and Religious Liberty (PARL) coordinators from across the Atlantic Union for a weekend of reflection, learning, and fellowship centered on the principles of freedom of conscience and faith.
Participants engaged in thought-provoking presentations, stimulating discussions with peers, and meaningful interactions with students exploring careers in law, including several seniors from Union Springs Academy.
Guest presenters included Sean Pittman, M.D., pathologist; Bettina Krause, Liberty magazine editor and PARL associate director for the North American Division; Bill Knott, retired PARL associate director for the General Conference and former senior editor of the Adventist Review and Adventist World magazines; and attorney Jonathan Nelson, Esq.
Weekend topics covered a wide range of issues: the relationship between legal due process and civil rights—long critical to religious minorities such as Seventh-day Adventists; Adventist engagement with civic and political matters; and the call for Christians to live according to biblical principles while avoiding the idolatry of partisanship, to name a few.
“We are facing issues of religious liberty that have never challenged us,” said Charles Eusey, Atlantic Union Conference PARL director. “It is important that we listen to God and to experts in the field of religious liberty so that we are not misled by those who do not have a correct understanding of the times.”
His words underscored the conference’s central message—that understanding the legal and spiritual foundations of freedom of conscience is both a civic duty and a gospel calling.
Special thanks to the Atlantic Union Conference PARL team—Charles Eusey, director, and assistant directors John Ashmeade and James Richmond—for organizing another successful conference that reaffirmed the Adventist church’s ongoing commitment to religious liberty.
