Melissa Rogers is a nonresident senior fellow in the Governance Studies program at Brookings and the Distinguished Scholar in Faith, Law, and Public Policy at Wake Forest University School of Divinity. Her areas of expertise include the U.S. Constitution’s religious liberty guarantees, religion’s intersection with law and public policy, partnerships between government and faith-based organizations, and the role of religion in American public life.
Rogers previously served as special assistant to the president and executive director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships for President Barack Obama (2013-2017) and President Joe Biden (2021-2025). She also formerly served as chair of President Obama’s inaugural Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, executive director of the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, and general counsel of the Baptist Joint Committee on Public Affairs.
Rogers is author of “Faith in American Public Life” (Baylor University Press 2019) and co-author of “Religious Freedom and the Supreme Court” (Baylor University Press 2008). She holds a J.D. from University of Pennsylvania Law School and a B.A. from Baylor University. Rogers received an Honorary Doctorate of Divinity from both Wake Forest University and the John Leland Center for Theological Studies. National Journal has recognized her as one of the church-state experts “politicians will call on when they get serious about addressing an important public policy issue.”
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Current Positions
- Distinguished Scholar in Faith, Law, and Public Policy, Wake Forest University School of Divinity
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Past Positions
- Special Assistant to President Joe Biden and Executive Director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships (2021-2025)
- Member, United States Holocaust Memorial Council
- Special Assistant to President Barack Obama and Executive Director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships (2013-2017)
- Visiting Professor, Wake Forest University School of Divinity
- Executive Director, Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life
- General Counsel, Baptist Joint Committee on Public Affairs
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Education
- J.D., University of Pennsylvania Law School
- B.A., Baylor University
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Key White House achievements
Key White House achievements include:
- Chaired the interagency policy committee comprised of representatives of nine federal agencies that produced the joint final rule on Partnerships with Faith-Based and Neighborhood Organizations, 89 Federal Register 15671 (March 4, 2024). This rule restores important religious liberty protections for beneficiaries of federally funded social services. Also advised on church-state and conscience issues in numerous other proposed and final rules.
- Served as a leader on the Domestic Policy Council team that organized the United We Stand Summit: Taking Action to Prevent and Address Hate-Motivated Violence and Foster Unity (September 15, 2022) and on the Domestic Policy Council-National Security Council team that chaired the first-ever interagency policy committee on Countering Antisemitism, Islamophobia, and Related Forms of Bias and Discrimination, which was comprised of more than twenty-five federal agencies. This committee produced and implemented the first-ever U.S. National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism (2023) and the first-ever U.S. National Strategy to Counter Islamophobia and Anti-Arab Hate (2024), each of which contain over 100 Executive Branch Actions and 100 Calls to Action to every sector of society to prevent and address these forms of hate.
- Worked as an emissary to Uvalde, Texas and East Buffalo, New York in the aftermath of mass shootings in these communities in May 2022. This work helped lead to the establishment of the first-ever White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention in 2023.
- Co-chaired policy aspects of the visit of His Holiness Pope Francis to the White House in September 2015, including work on issues related to refugee admissions, sustainable development, climate change, and religious freedom.
- Assisted State Department in opening its Office of Religion and Global Affairs in 2013 and worked with its Office of International Religious Freedom to promote religious freedom across the globe.
- Coordinated agency Centers for Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships and partnered with religious and community groups to advance a wide range of aims such as:
- combating the spread of the COVID-19, Ebola, Zika, and HIV;
- reducing child and maternal deaths;
- preparing for and responding to natural and man-made disasters;
- ensuring greater access to quality, affordable health insurance and health care;
- strengthening the refugee resettlement system;
- ensuring access to free and nutritious meals for children offered through the Summer Food Service Program;
- boosting economic opportunity for all, including by creating or strengthening jobs clubs to assist the unemployed and underemployed;
- addressing climate change and boosting the energy efficiency of nonprofit facilities, including houses of worship; and
- helping government better understand the key roles of religious leaders and faith-based organizations in locally led development and humanitarian assistance around the globe.
- Served as a member of the 2014 Presidential Delegation to the Federal Republic of Germany to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe’s Berlin Conference on Anti-Semitism.
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Highlighted articles
“A Time to Heal, A Time to Build: Recommendations for the next administration on respecting religious freedom and pluralism, forging civil society partnerships, and navigating faith’s role in foreign policy,” Brookings Institution (Oct. 21, 2020), co-authored with E.J. Dionne.
“Religious Freedom and the Federal Executive Branch: Suggestions for Future Administrations“, 15 U. St. Thomas L.J. 703 (2019).
“The Quest to Balance Health Care Providers’ Consciences and Patients’ Needs,” Brookings Institution in cooperation with Wake Forest University Center for Religion and Public Affairs (Feb. 23, 2012), co-authored with William Galston.
“Serving People in Need, Safeguarding Religious Freedom: Recommendations for the New Administration on Partnerships with Faith-Based Organizations,” Brookings Institution and Wake Forest University School of Divinity’s Center for Religion and Public Affairs (Dec. 5, 2008), co-authored with E.J. Dionne.