About the Center for Religious Liberty

Our Mission

The mission of The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor Center for Religious Liberty is to advance religious liberty for all persons, in all parts of the world, without regard to their religious, ethnic, gender, racial or national background. Religious liberty is a basic human right that must be nourished and protected by all human societies; it is the cornerstone of modern societies' efforts to build a more peaceful world. The Center advances this mission by publishing relevant literature, hosting and sponsoring lectureships and conferences, sharing its expertise with media and other public information outlets, and partnering with other persons and groups who share the goal of advancing religious liberty.

About the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor 

The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor was formed in 1845 in Independence, Texas as the Female Department of Baylor University. In 1866 the Baptist State Convention of Texas severed the Female Department from the university and founded Baylor Female College, which operated under the original charter but was governed by an independent board of trustees. Baylor Female College moved to Belton, Texas in 1886. Until 1971, when it became coeducational, the university had the distinction of being the oldest college for women west of the Mississippi River.

In 1978 the college reorganized and was renamed University of Mary Hardin-Baylor. Academically the college has always emphasized the liberal arts, taught in a Christian context. Today UMHB has a library of approximately 250,000 volumes, a campus of approximately 200 acres, a faculty of 135, and a teacher-student ratio of about one to 17. The university offers 66 undergraduate majors and 18 graduate programs. UMHB is divided academically into eight schools: Business, Christian Studies, Education, Humanities, Sciences, the Scott and White School of Nursing, Visual and Performing Arts, and the Graduate School. Dr. Jerry Bawcom has served as president since 1991. 

Our Staff

Derek H. Davis, J.D., Ph.D. - Director

J.David Holcomb, Ph.D. - Associate Director

Dr. Marty McMahone - Associate Director

Tami McDowell - Administrative Assistant

Derek H. Davis, J.D., Ph.D.

Derek H. Davis, B.A., M.A., J.D., Ph.D., is a graduate of Baylor University and Baylor Law School and holds a Master of Arts in Church-State Studies from Baylor University and a Doctor of Philosophy in Humanities from the University of Texas at Dallas. He is Dean of the College of Humanities and Dean of the Graduate School at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, Belton, Texas. From 1995 to 2006 he was Director of the J.M. Dawson Institute of Church-State Studies, Baylor University, and from 1993 to 2006, Editor of Journal of Church and State.

Dr. Davis is a fellow, director and officer of the International Academy for Freedom of Religion and Belief, serves on the advisory council of the Interfaith Religious Liberty Foundation, is on the advisory board of The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, is a member of the Religious Liberty Council on the National Council of Churches U.S.A., is a member of the Board of Experts for the International Religious Liberty Association, is listed on Who's Who in American Law and Who's Who in the World, and has served as Special Counsel to the Baptist Joint Committee on Public Affairs. In 2000, he was awarded the Human Rights Achievement Award by Freedom magazine, and in 2004, the Honor of Merit by the International Religious Liberty Association for leadership in advancing religious freedom. He is also a former Baylor University football captain and all-conference receiver.

He is the author of Original Intent: Chief Justice Rehnquist & the Course of American Church-State Relations (1991 by Prometheus Books), and Religion and the Continental Congress, 1174-1789: Contributions to Original Intent (2000 by Oxford University Press) He is the editor or coeditor of fourteen additional books, including The Role of Religion in the Making of Public Policy (1991), Legal Deskbook for Administrators of Independent Colleges and Universities (1993), Problems and Conflicts Between Law and Morality in a Free Society (1993), Genesis and the Millenium: An Essay on Religious Pluralism in the Twenty-first Century by Bill Moyers (2000), Welfare Reform and Faith-Based Organizations (1999), Religious Liberty in Northern Europe in the Twenty-first Century (2000), and International Perspecitives on Freedom of Religion and Belief (2002). He has also published more than one hundred thirty articles in various law reviews, academic journals, magazines, etc.

His frequent magazine, radio, and television interviews have included those for Time Magazine, First Things, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Philadelphia Inquirer, National Public Radio, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, Chicage Tribune, The Christian Science Monitor, CNN, the Fox News Network, CBS News, and ABC News. In recent years he has been called upon by the U.S. Congress, the Texas Legislature, and United Nations emissaries for testimony relating to legal measures needed to protect religious liberty in national and international settings. He has lectured extensively before academic, public, and religious audiences on a wide range of topics including relgious liberty (national and international), church-state relations (ancient, medieval, and modern), human rights, ethnic cleansing, the political role of Christianity and other religions, civil religion, nontraditional religions, religious dimensions of the American founding, law and morality, law and religion, and religion and education.

J.David Holcomb, Ph.D.

Dr. David Holcomb is an associate professor of history and political science at UMHB. He joined the faculty at UMHB in 2002 after serving as director of the Baylor University Press and as a lecturer at Baylor in political science, church-state studies, and the Baylor Interdisciplinary Core. Dr. Holcomb is a gradute of William Jewell College (A.B.) where he majored in history and philosophy. He received the M.A. in church-state studies from Baylor University and later received the first Ph.D. granted by Baylor in church-state studies. At UMHB, Dr. Holcomb teaches introductory courses in both history and political science, upper-level courses in religion and politics, constiutional law, and political theory, and coordinates the university's London Studies Program.

Dr. Holcomb's articles, essays, and reviews have appeared in the Journal of Church and State, Encyclopedia of American Relgion and Politics, Baptist History and Heritage, and the Journal of Texas Baptist History. His recent research has been in the area of religion and higher education. His article, "Financing Faith and Learning: Assessing the Constitutional Implications of Integrating Faith and Learning at the Church-Related College," appeared in the Autumn 2006 issue of the Journal of Church and State. He recently completed a book chapter entitled "Religion and Higer Education" for a forthcoming three-volume work entitled Church-State Issues in America Today. Dr. Holcomb is currently engaged in research on Leo Pfeffer, arguably the most influential figure in American church-state relations during the 20th century.

Regularly interviewed by local media on American politics, Dr. Holcomb also has appeared before church gathering to speak on church-state issues. Dr. Holcomb's wife, Carol Crawford Holcomb, is an associate professor of religion at UMHB. They have three sons.

Dr. Marty McMahone

Marty McMahone (B.S., M.S., M.Div., Ph.D.) has taught at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor since 1995. He holds an M.Div. with biblical languages from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and a Ph.D. in Church-State Studies from Baylor University. He began at UMHB as an adjunct, but joined the faculty full-time in 1998. He teaches Christian business practices, ethics, and leadership in the College of Business. His primary area of interest is the intersection of faith and public life.

Dr. McMahone has written on the application of servant leadership to education and the role of leadership practice in developing ethical behavior. He is currently looking at issues as diverse as the difficulty of change in an organization, the role of business in Christian missions and the ethical meaning of globalization. Outside of the College of Business, Dr. McMahone also has interests in Baptist church-state views (his dissertation examined the varied Baptist views on church-state relations in the nineteenth century), the intellectual foundations of the American republic, the interaction between religious education and the state, and the role of religion in the political process.