The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center opened “Faith & (in)Justice” on May 23 in Cincinnati, an exhibition tracing the intersection of religion and social justice in the United States over more than two centuries. The exhibition, developed by the Freedom Center in partnership with Cincinnati Museum Center, examines how Christianity, Islam, and Judaism have served as both catalysts for reform and tools to justify oppression.

The exhibition features artifacts including boxing gloves signed by Muhammad Ali, who refused the Vietnam War draft on religious grounds; a sample of lead-contaminated water from Flint, Michigan, where churches provided clean water during the crisis; a Ku Klux Klan robe owned by an Ohio Quaker family; and a facsimile of Thomas Jefferson’s “The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth.” A recreated praise house places visitors in the early history of the Black Church.

“We developed this exhibition not to settle who is right and who is wrong, but to open a dialogue,” said Woodrow Keown, Jr., president and COO of the Freedom Center. The exhibition was developed with partial support from Lilly Endowment Inc. through its Religion and Cultural Institutions Initiative and will begin a national tour after its Cincinnati run.

Source: https://freedomcenter.org/voice/press_release/religion-and-social-justice/