Eric Patterson, President, Religious Freedom Institute

Eric Patterson is president of the Religious Freedom Institute in Washington, DC. He previously worked as dean of the School of Government at Regent University and as a research fellow at Georgetown University’s Berkeley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs. Patterson’s government service has included the White House Fellowship, two stints at the US State Department, and many years as an officer and commander in the Air National Guard. He has provided briefings and seminars for multiple government agencies and he studies the intersection of religion, religious liberty, and national security. He is the author or editor of a number of books, including Politics in a Religious World: Building a Religiously Informed US Foreign Policy and the forthcoming Protestant Theological Sources for Religious Freedom. He has also published articles in both academic journals and popular outlets such as the Washington Post.