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Adjunct Professor of Religious Studies
Expertise: separation of church and state, legal rights of religious groups, public display of religious symbols, federal funding of faith-based organizations, religious splinter groups, cults, paramilitary organizations, Catholicism
Bio:
Flinn, a consultant in forensic theology, is an expert on religion and the law, including issues related to the separation of church and state, government funding of faith-based social program and the display of religious symbols in schools, courtrooms and other public places. He also is an expert on the legal rights of religious groups, especially those of cults, religious splinter groups and paramilitary organizations. He teaches a course on Cults in America and often serves as an expert legal witness on issues involving the legal definition of religion, cults, conversion and brainwashing. Flinn has commented on the religious sect of David Koresh and the federal raid in Waco, Texas; on the fiery deaths of 52 Solar Temple cult members whose bodies were discovered in Switzerland and Canada in 1994; on the ties of Christian Identity religious sect to militia groups allegiedly linked to the Oklahoma City bombing; on the mass suicide of 39 members of the Higher Source cult in San Diego; and most recently on the controversy involving sexual abuse allegations of priests in the Catholic Church.
WUSTL Contact Information:
| Work: | (314) 935-8677 |
| Fax: | (314) 935-4075 |
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| E-mail: | fkflinn@wustl.edu |
| Address: | One Brookings Drive
Campus Box 1065
St. Louis, MO 63130
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Education:
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Ph.D. in Religious Studies at University of Toronto
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B.Div. in Religion at Harvard University
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B.A. in Philosophy at Quincy College
| News Stories & Tip Sheets: |
Showing Stories 1 through 5 of 11.
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It's OK, Notre Dame
Catholic leadership divided over Obama's Notre Dame speech, expert suggests
May 16,
2009 --
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| Frank Flinn |
Notre Dame University's decision to invite President Obama to deliver the university's commencement address on Sunday has sparked strong protests from groups who disagree with Obama's stand on abortion and stem cell research. Despite condemnation of Obama's speech by a number of prominent American bishops, the Vatican may be more interested in moderation and conciliation in its dealings with Obama, suggests Frank K. Flinn, a close observer of religious politics and author of the Encyclopedia of Catholicism (2007).
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Missteps of a Pope
Benedict XVI has "lost his direction" in relation to recent exonerations
Feb. 10,
2009 --
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| Frank Flinn |
Pope Benedict XVI's decision to lift the excommunication of British Bishop Richard Williams, along with three other bishops appointed by an ultra-conservative archbishop more than 20 years ago, has created controversy around the world. Williams has said he believes no Jews were killed by gas chambers during World War II. Frank K. Flinn, Ph.D., adjunct professor of religious studies in Arts & Sciences and expert on Catholicism, says this is the latest in series of blunders that are coming to define Benedict's papacy.
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Marriage vs. civil union
Let churches handle marriage, suggests expert
Dec. 11,
2008 --
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| Frank K. Flinn |
In November, California citizens passed Proposition 8 upholding the idea that marriage is defined as and limited to the union of one man with one woman. The vote has given encouragement to many in other states who want to pass similar legislation. The United States is about to enter a period of legal upheaval on the question of marriage in the civil law, suggests Frank K. Flinn, Ph.D., adjunct professor of religious studies in Arts & Sciences. His proposal? Give marriage to the churches and let the state define civil unions.
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Religion and politics
Joe Biden, abortion and the Catholic vote
Oct. 24,
2008 --
Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden is telling the Catholics in his audiences that St. Thomas Aquinas had a different teaching on abortion than the current pope and his immediate predecessors. He's right, says Frank K. Flinn, Ph.D., adjunct professor of religious studies in Arts & Sciences. Flinn is author of the Encyclopedia of Catholicism (2007).
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$660 million goes to church abuse victims
The settlement is a last ditch concession, says expert
July 16,
2007 -- A judge on July 16 approved a $660 million settlement between the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles and more than 500 alleged victims
of clergy abuse, the largest payout yet in a nationwide sex abuse scandal. Frank K. Flinn, adjunct professor of religious studies in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis and author of the recently published "Encyclopedia of Catholicism," comments.
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Showing 3 Clips.
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The Vatican on Muslims and Jews
U.S. News & World Report online
April 30,
2008 -- Article looks at how Pope Benedict XVI is trying to mend fences within the church, with other churches, and with Muslims and Jews.
WUSTL religious studies professor Frank Flinn comments.
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"The Secret" Draws on Long Tradition
Associated Press Online
and 57 others
June 25,
2007 -- Writer looks at the popularity of the best seller "The Secret" and the history of the New Thought movement.
WUSTL religious studies professor Frank Flinn comments.
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Commentary on the Papal Election
CNN - Lou Dobbs Tonight
April 20,
2005 -- Frank Flinn, professor of religious studies at WUSTL, offers commentary and analysis of the election of Cardinal Ratzinger as the new Pope Benedict XVI.
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Additional Background: Frank K. Flinn is an adjunct professor of Religious Studies at Washington University in St. Louis, where he teaches, among other things, courses on the North American Religious Experience, Christianity in the Modern World, Varieties of Fundamentalism and "Cults" in America. In the Spring of 2002 he taught Religion and Violence. In Fall 1999, he taught a short course in WUSTL's University College titled "Marching to the Millennium: Varieties of Millennial Thinking in the Western Religious Tradition."
He also teaches courses on the North American Religious Experience, Sacred Places and Sacred Shrines, and Christianity in the Modern World.
Flinn earned an undergraduate degree from Quincy College, a Bachelor of Divinity, magna cum laude, from Harvard Divinity School and a Ph.D. in Special Religious Studies from the University of St. Michael's College, University of Toronto. He was a Fulbright Fellow at the University of Heidelberg in 1967-68.
He also serves as an expert in forensic religion, testifying on the legal definition of religion and religious practices here and abroad. He has appeared on radio and television around the globe on issues relating to church and state, Catholicism, the new religions, Waco, the militia in the United States, Heavensgate, church and state and religious violence.
Flinn is author of "Millenial Hermeneutics in The Coming Kingdom: Essays in American Millennialism & Eschatology" (1983), "Church, Sect, Denomination, Cult" in Liberty: A Magazine of Religious Liberty (July/August, 1994), "Question: Is apocalyptic religion bad for America?" Insight (June 19, 1995), "Government Shouldn't Fulfill Milita's Apocalyptic Prophecies" Insight (May 29, 1995), "Toward a self-inflicted Armageddon?" Houston Chronicle (Sunday, April 30, 1995), "Conversion: Up from Evangelicalism, or the Pentecostal and Charismatic Experience" in Religious Conversion: Content, Context and Controversy (London: Cassells, 1999), and "Whose Commandments; Which Version?" Scripps-Howard Newsservice (2000). His Encyclopedia of Catholicism will appear in May 2007.
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