The San Luis Obispo Forum on Faith & Culture
Exploring the plausibility of Christianity as public truth
The San Luis Obispo Forum on Faith and Culture is a new annual lecture series created to explore how Christian faith speaks with integrity, depth, and hope in a rapidly changing cultural landscape. Hosted in the heart of California’s Central Coast, the Forum invites nationally respected scholars, writers, and practitioners to address questions that matter for our communities, our institutions, and our shared public life.
Our Purpose
We believe Christianity offers a compelling vision of truth, beauty, and community—one that remains remarkably plausible even in a secular age. Yet many today are disillusioned by political tribalism and exhausted by culture-war antagonism. The Forum exists to offer a different way: conversations that are intellectually serious, emotionally resonant, and publicly meaningful.
Our guiding question is simple:
What does it mean to live out the Christian faith in a way that is both faithful and winsome in today’s pluralistic world?
2026 Inaugural Event
February 27-28, 2026
“Christ After Culture Wars: Finding Sanity and Hope in a Time of Confusion and Despair”
Featuring Dr. Russell Moore
February 27–28, 2025 — San Luis Obispo (venue TBA)
In an era marked by division and despair, how can Christian faith offer a healing presence rather than deepen the fractures of public life? Dr. Russell Moore will explore the future of Christian witness beyond the culture wars and invite us into a more grounded, humane, and hopeful vision of public engagement.
The inaugural event will feature:
• A keynote lecture by Dr. Moore
• A public Q&A hosted by Dr. Ashley Hales
• A Saturday morning follow-up gathering for ministry leaders, including a panel discussion with local scholars and pastors, as well as guided conversations about cultivating constructive Christian public engagement on the Central Coast.
Details and registration information will be announced soon.
Why San Luis Obispo?
San Luis Obispo is shaped by the coastal landscape, a strong culture of authenticity, and the presence of California Polytechnic State University. It is a city where secularism and spiritual curiosity intermingle. Here, questions about meaning, belonging, and the common good are not theoretical—they are lived realities.
Rooting the Forum in SLO allows us to engage the cultural imagination of the region:
• Its desire for depth
• Its distrust of dogma
• Its hunger for something lasting
Two historic institutions—Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa and Cal Poly—embody the enduring tension between spiritual heritage and modern secular formation. The Forum seeks to inhabit that space with thoughtfulness and generosity.
Partnership
The Forum is an initiative of Trinity Presbyterian Church, in collaboration with the Willowbrae Institute, and RUF at Cal Poly. The 2025 inaugural event is presented in partnership with Christianity Today’s Public Theology Project.
Our aim is not simply to host an event, but to catalyze an ongoing, collaborative conversation about what Christian faith can mean for the public life of our region. We hope to bring together church leaders, students, faculty, and community members to think deeply about the shape of Christian presence on the Central Coast.