Conference on “Law and Religion in the 21st Century: Relations Between States and Religious Communities,” in Milan, Italy, 22 January 2009

Members of the Center participated in a conference during 22-24 January 2009, entitled “Law and Religion in the 21st Century: Relations Between States and Religious Communities.” Cole Durham, Center Director, presented on religious freedom in the United States and Canada. Brett Scharffs, Associate Director of the Center, was also in attendance. The International Consortium for Law and Religion Studies sponsored the conference, which was held at the University of Milan, in Milan, Italy. Cole Durham, Center Director, is Vice President of the ICLARS, and Robert Smith, Managing Director of the Center, is a member of the Secretariat of ICLARS. The conference included regional sessions dealing with the state and religion in Africa, Asia, America and Europe. Additionally, the conference included workshops on transnational issues, such as freedom of religion and freedom of expression, proselytism and the right to change religion, and religious symbols. Other speakers included Professor Frederick Mark Gedicks, J. Reuben Clark Law School at Brigham Young University; Juan N. Floria, Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina, Bs As, Argentina; Lourens M. du Plessis, University of Stellenbosch, South Africa; and Giuseppe Casuscelli, Università di Milano, Italy.