As we at the International Center for Law and Religion Studies reflect upon the just-concluded and very successful 16th Annual International Law and Religion Symposium, we wish to share a report of the conference with our many friends worldwide and to express our deep gratitude for those who traveled from 44 countries of Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, North and South America, and the Pacific to be with us in Provo, Utah. "Connecting Communities of Discourse: How the Judiciary, Academia, Government and International Institutions Further the Work of Religious ...More

The International Center for Law and Religion Studies was pleased to honor Senior Judge J. Clifford Wallace of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit with the 2009 Distinguished Service Award for Religious Freedom, presented Sunday, October 4, during the opening session of the 16th Annual International Law and Religion Symposium. "Judge Wallace has contributed to the growth of strong judiciaries in many parts of the world, particularly in Asia," notes ICLRS Director, Professor W. Cole Durham, Jr. "He has been a remarkable judge, a remarkable ...More

The Keynote speakers at the opening session of 16th Annual International Law and Religion Symposium, 4 October 2009, have devoted their careers to the cause of human rights. Anastasia Crickley, Chair of the European Union Fundamental Rights Agency, is Head of the Department of Applied Social Studies at National University of Ireland Maynooth, which plays a leading role in education and training for social justice and rights work. More

The Center was pleased to hear during the closing plenary session of the 16th Annual International Law and Religion Symposium in Provo on 6 October 2009 remarks by Michael K. Young, President of the University of Utah.  President Young is a graduate of Harvard Law School and was clerk to Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist. Before coming to the University of Utah, he was Dean of the George Washington Law ...More

Each year in preparing for and carrying out the International Law and Religion Symposium, the Center relies upon a great number of student volunteers, most of them from the J. Reuben Clark Law School. This year approximately 100 students, supervised by ICLRS Director of Publications Christine Scott and organized under a student Executive Committee, have assumed responsibility for coordinating such aspects of the Symposium as transportation, informal translation, and other organizational logistics. The Center recognizes and thanks this year's student volunteers and gives ...More

Deseret News columnist Lee Benson visited BYU Campus during the 16th Annual International Law and Religion Symposium and spoke to ICLRS Director Cole Durham and to several delegates, including the delegate from Egypt, Dr. Tayseir M. Mandour, Professor of Medicine at Al-Azhar University and member of the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs (photo at right with Dr. John Taylor and ICLRS Managing Director Robert Smith), and Ismail Ibrahim Malik, Chairman of the National Handicap and ...More

Representing the International Center for Law and Religion Studies, David M. Kirkham, Senior Fellow for Comparative Law and International Policy and Regional Advisor for the European Union, addressed freedom of conscience concerns at the conference "Exploring Dimensions in Countering Ideological Support for Terrorism" at the Royal Jordanian National Defence College, Amman, Jordan, 28-30 September 2009. Co-sponsored by the Defence College and the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies, the conference explored efforts by nations to delegitimize the ...More

International Center for Law and Religion Studies Associate Director Elizabeth Sewell and ICLRS Director W. Cole Durham, Jr. participated in conferences in Slovakia and Russia respectively.
       Professor Sewell presented a paper,"State Funding and Autonomy of Religious Groups," at the conference "Financing of Churches and Religious Societies in the 21st Century," an international conference held under the auspices of the Minister of Culture of the Slovak Republic, held 14-15 October 2009 in Bratislava. The conference was designed in part to ...More

ICLRS Advisors for Latin America, Gary B. Doxey (Center Associate Director) and Scott R. Isaacson (Senior Fellow and Executive Director for Latin America) will travel to Santiago, Chile, to attend an International Seminar, "Right to Freedom of Belief 10 Years after the Enactment of Law No. 19.638 [The 'Chilean Law of Worship'] on Legal Constitution of Religious Entities." The seminar, to take place 29-30 October 2009 at the Santiago Campus of the University of Talca, is organized by the Faculty of Law and Social Sciences, University of Talca; the Faculty ...More