This article describes the difficult times for faculty members and others who are committed to academic freedom. Among a number of examples, the author presents the bills introduced by state legislatures across the country that aim to restrict faculty activity in the name of protecting student freedom. Such legislative initiatives use the language of academic freedom in their effort to constrain expression. In so doing, they threaten to turn the meaning of academic freedom away from its traditional sense as the freedom to express diverse viewpoints toward the idea that academic freedom is a freedom from hearing any views that might cause offense. This new meaning is hardly that of a principle supporting free and open inquiry in the academy, nor is it one that supports the enterprise of democracy. Here, the author asserts it is vitally important that we defend academic freedom and recall its founding principles. She suggests taking up the challenge of the current moment as an opportunity to rethink the meaning of academic freedom. The inherent contradictions of freedom are particularly acute when it comes to one of the hottest of the hot-button issues now invoked in debates over academic freedom: that of religion. Religious freedom and academic freedom pose an apparent contradiction. Because the relationship between freedom and religion is so fraught, Barnard College chose to make questions of religion, in conjunction with the politics of identity, the focus of its Difficult Dialogues project, which began in spring 2005 with discussions about what makes for "difficult dialogues." The project, which is set to continue through spring 2008, involves: (1) a faculty seminar that extends for the length of the grant; (2) an undergraduate seminar; and (3) an addition to an existing program that relies on role-playing to explore the history of social conflicts. In this article, the author details the theories and goals behind this project and all of its extensive components. (Contains 2 notes.)