Religious freedom is in the headlines on both sides of the Atlantic. Although some have written of a “Western model” of religious liberty, is that label a myth? Sixteen law and religion experts—from Australia, Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, and the United States—met at Georgetown University in Washington, DC on 11 October 2012 to examine the historic and emerging differences in how religious freedom was conceived and has been implemented on both sides of the Atlantic.

Which Model, Whose Liberty?: Differences between the U.S. and European Approaches to Religious Freedom was cosponsored by the Religious Freedom Project of the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs and the International Center for Law and Religion Studies at Brigham Young University’s School of Law. The panel discussions were as follows:

Religion in the Democratic Public Square
Robert Audi, John O’Brien Professor of Philosophy, University of Notre Dame
Francis Beckwith, Professor of Philosophy and Church-State Studies, Baylor University
Sophie van Bijsterveld, Senator, the Netherlands; Professor of Law, Tilburg University
Fr. Raymond de Souza, Editor-in-Chief, Convivium Magazine

European and American Models of Religious Freedom: The Future of Religious Autonomy
Carolyn Evans, Dean, Melbourne Law School, University of Melbourne
Leslie Griffin, William S. Boyd Professor of Law, University of Nevada School of Law
Douglas Laycock, Robert E. Scott Distinguished Professor of Law, University of Virginia Law School
Gerhard Robbers, Director, Institute for European Constitutional Law and Director, Institute for Legal Policy, University of Trier, Germany

Institutional and Individual Conscience
Javier Martínez-Torrón, Director, Department of Church-State Law, Complutense University, Spain
Mark Rienzi, Assistant Professor, Columbus School of Law, The Catholic University of America
Melissa Rogers, Director, Center for Religion and Public Affairs, Wake Forest University
Rik Torfs, Senator, Belgium; Professor of Canon Law, University of Leuven, Belgium

Religious Minorities and Religious Freedom: The Cases of Muslims and Mormons
Silvio Ferrari, Professor of Law, Universita degli Studi di Milano, Italy
Muqtedar Khan, Associate Professor, University of Delaware
Lena Larsen, Director, Norwegian Centre for Human Rights, University of Oslo
Nathan B. Oman, Assistant Professor, Marshall-Wythe School of Law, The College of William and Mary