About
Sarah Estelle
Director, Religious Liberty in the States
Sarah M. Estelle, PhD, is an associate professor of economics at Hope College in Holland, Michigan; research fellow of the Center for Religion, Culture & Democracy; and director of the CRCD’s Religious Liberty in the States project. Dr. Estelle’s other quantitative research includes applied microeconomic analyses of parenting investments, child academic achievement, adolescent risky behavior, higher education, welfare policy, and criminal justice reform.
A second vein of Dr. Estelle’s scholarship seeks to bring into conversation principles of traditional Christian teaching and classical liberal economics, including through projects relating economics and love.
Dr. Estelle is the founding director of Hope College’s Markets & Morality program, which invites students to explore economic issues through a Christian lens. She earned her BA and PhD in economics from Hillsdale College and the University of Virginia, respectively.
Camryn Zeller
Project Assistant, Religious Liberty in the States
Camryn Zeller completed her BA in Economics at Hope College in Holland, Michigan in 2021 and is currently a fifth grade teacher at Great Hearts Academy in Arlington, TX. Camryn has conducted research on a range of topics including modern socio-economic thought on consumerism, Alexander Solzhenitsyn’s economic, political, and moral thought, and the Christian faith and economics. Her research has been published in the Journal of Markets and Morality and The Bell Tower.
Center for Religion, Culture & Democracy
The Center for Religion, Culture & Democracy envisions democratic societies that affirm the essential role of religious convictions, peoples, and institutions in cultivating free and flourishing communities. To achieve its vision, the CRCD supports the creation and promotion of high-quality scholarship at the intersection of religion, culture, and democracy.
Our publications, programming, and resources affirm the importance of religion as a public good for strengthening social bonds and reinforcing foundational freedoms. The CRCD is an initiative of First Liberty Institute, the nation’s largest legal organization exclusively defending religious liberty for all Americans. FLI believes that every American of any faith—or no faith at all—has a fundamental right to follow their conscience and live according to their beliefs.
Standard of Research and Integrity of This Project
The Center for Religion, Culture & Democracy (CRCD) is committed to the highest established standards of principles and responsibilities for research. The CRCD affirms these principles and responsibilities as outlined in the Singapore Statement on Research Integrity. The principles in the Singapore Statement are commitments to (1) “Honesty in all aspects of research,” (2) “Accountability in the conduct of research,” (3) “Professional courtesy and fairness in working with others,” and (4) “Good stewardship of research on behalf of others.” Part of this commitment to research integrity involves responding appropriately to criticisms, concerns, and questions about research methodology and findings of research. For that reason, the CRCD promotes a culture of discourse consistent with The HxA Way. Errors of fact that are discovered in the work of the CRCD will be acknowledged, corrected, and noted in subsequent publication and distribution.
Religious Liberty in the States is a project of the CRCD and parent organization First Liberty Institute (FLI). These organizations have contracted with Sarah Estelle under the terms that FLI reserves editorial discretion for copyediting and style only, while Dr. Estelle reserves all rights for content and project description consistent with industry standards for academic independence and integrity.