International Center for Law and Religion Studies

The Center co-sponsored conference “Islam in the Law: Sharia, Secularism, and Society in the Euro-Mediterranean Region” was held November 7-9, 2013 at Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane, Morocco. Welcomes by Dean Nisar Messari of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences and Professor T. Jeremy Gunn both of Al Akhawayn, were followed by keynote addresses by Professor Olivier Roy, European University Institute, and Tahir Mahmood, Professor of Eminence & Honorary Chair, Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, Amity International University.

Other speakers were Professors Cole Durham and James Toronto of Brigham Young University; Professor Gerhard Robbers, University of Trier; Professor Alessandro Ferrari, University of Milan; Professor Blandine Chelini-Pont, University Aix-Marseilles; Professor…

Oxford Conference: International Protection of Religious Freedom, Emerging Issues

The International Center for Law and Religion Studies of the J. Reuben Clark Law School and the Brigham Young University London Centre sponsored the conference “International Protection of Religious Freedom: Emerging Issues”, held at Harris Manchester College, Oxford University, 18-19 June 2013.

This conference was a central event of the inaugural Oxford Journal of Law and Religion Summer Academy. Among those attending were ICLRS Director W. Cole Durham, Jr., President of the International Consortium for Law and Religion Studies (ICLARS, Milan) and Co-Editor-in-Chief of the Oxford Journal of Law and Religion; ICLRS Associate Director and Associate Dean of Academic Affairs of the J. Reuben Clark Law School Brett G. Scharffs, who is a member of the Advisory Board of the Oxford Journal of Law and Religion; and Donlu Thayer, ICLRS Senior Editor and a…

Challenges for Democracy: Religion, Law and Dialogue in the CIS and Baltics

The conference “Challenges for Democracy: Religion, Law and Dialogue in the CIS and Baltics“, was held 25-27 April 2013 at the Baltic International Academy in Riga, Latvia. The conference brought together some 50 scholars and government leaders from the CIS and Baltics to look at law and religion issues in this region.

The conference was sponsored by the Baltic International Academy; the Academy of Labor and Social Relations (Moscow), the Coordinating Council of CIS and the Baltics on Theoretical and Practical Religious Studies, the Center of Religious Studies Research “ReligioPolis” (Moscow), and the International Center for Law and Religion Studies (ICLRS) at Brigham Young University (USA). The conference organizing committee consisted of Ringolds Balodis, University of Latvia; Elizabeth Clark and Cole Durham, Brigham Young University; Ekaterina…

Conference in Moscow: The Religious Factor in the Socio-Political Life of Modern Russia

The conference “The Religious Factor in the Socio-Political Life of Modern Russia: Religion, and Law in Public Policy” was held in Moscow on 28 May 2013 in the Great Hall of the Academic Council of the Institute of Europe. Organizers of the conference included the Academy of Labor and Social Relations, Department of Sociology and Management of Social Relations and the Center of Religious Study “ReligoPolis” (Moscow, Russia); the Family Center and the International Center of Law and Religious Studies, both of Brigham Young University (Provo, Utah, USA); the Russian Orthodox University of Saint John Evangelist (Moscow) Department of Religious Studies, Ethnology and Regional Studies. Cole Durham participated.

Law and Religion in Africa: Comparative Practices, Experiences, and Prospects

The conference “Law and Religion in Africa: Comparative Practices, Experiences, and Prospects” was held 14-15 January 2013 at the University of Ghana in Legon, Ghana.

Scholars, legal professionals, and religious leaders from Botswana, Ethiopia, Ghana, Liberia, Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierre Leone, South Africa, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, the United Kindgom, and the United States gathered in Legon for the two-day event.

The event was sponsored by the Unit for the Study of Law and Religion in the Faculty of Theology, Stellenbosch University, South Africa; the Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria, South Africa; the Faculty of Law, University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana; the Center for the Study of Law and Religion, Emory University, United States; and the International Center for Law and Religion Studies of the J. Reuben Clark Law School, Brigham Young University, United States.&nbsp…