2015 ACLARS Conference: ‘Religious Freedom and Religious Pluralism in Africa’
The Third Conference on Law and Religion in Africa took place in Windhoek, Namibia, May 18-19, 2015. This memorable and very successful conference focused on the theme “Religious Freedom and Religious Pluralism in Africa: Prospects and Limitations.” Some sixty participants participated in the conference, from 17 countries: UK, US, Ethiopia, Egypt, Nigeria, Benin, Ghana, South Africa, Senegal, Namibia, Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Zambia, Botswana, Uganda, Belgium.
Participants discussed such topics as:
- African traditional law / religion
- Human rights and dignity (including rights of children, the disabled, the elderly and women)
- Implications of globalisation, neo-liberalism, democratisation, and fragile states for religious practice in African societies
- Competing conceptions of religion and freedom in the African context
- Tensions between individual and collective rights
- Relationship of custom, culture, ethnicity and religion
- State responses to religious pluralism and pluralisation in Africa
- Theological and/or philosophical approaches to the theme
- Religious freedoms, rights and responsibilities
- Religion-state relations
- Legal perspectives and religion (including national, regional, international and comparative perspectives)
- Other emerging current concerns for the law and religion field