Greetings to our friends around the world, from all of us here at the International Center for Law and Religion Studies at Brigham Young University! As we take this opportunity to recall important events and accomplishments, we send warmest wishes to all of you for an even brighter new year to come.
      This month marks ten years since the official launch of the Center in January 2000, following upon another decade of laying groundwork, making contacts, and organizing conferences through the Law School. As you will read about in the Director's message below, it ...More

Ten years ago, on January 1 of 2000, Brigham Young University established the International Center for Law and Religion Studies. The formal establishment of the Center built on years of work we had done at the law school and abroad and was undertaken to promote scholarship and further knowledge in the field of law and religion. Growing from small beginnings, the Center has emerged as a recognized leader in the field of religious freedom, both at the national level in the United States and internationally. Center faculty have provided testimony before the U.S. Congress and have contributed ...More

Aspen Publishers has announced the release of the casebook Law and Religion: National, International, and Comparative Perspectives, co-authored by W. Cole Durham, Jr. and Brett G. Scharffs, with the participation of others at the International Center for Law and Religion Studies. Developed for use in English-speaking law-school courses, the work is a dynamic combination of international and domestic materials, designed to stimulate discussion of familiar and sensitive issues of conflict and debate in a global context. "Timely and incisive," the publishers ...More

Professor Cole Durham has been invited to participate in a panel on defamation of religion and freedom of speech during the Geneva Summit for Human Rights, Tolerance and Democracy, to be held 8-9 March 2010 in Geneva, Switzerland. Organized by an international coalition of human rights NGOs and meeting under the auspices of Mr. Lech Walesa, former President of Poland, and Mr. Vaclav Havel, former President of the Czech Republic, the Summit "plans to offer dissidents and human rights activists from around the world a global platform and forum to share their ...More

Co-sponsored by the ICLRS, the International Institute of Advanced Islamic Studies (IAIS), the Faculty of Law of the University of Malaysia, and the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies of Amity University, the conference "Religion, Law, and Governance in Southeast Asia: Comparative Legal Perspectives" will take place 29-31 January 2010 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Representing the ...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

In his capacity as a member of the OSCE Advisory Panel of Experts on Freedom of Religion or Belief, ICLRS Director W. Cole Durham, Jr. moderated a roundtable discussion—"Defamation of Religions: The Relationship between freedom of expression and freedom of religion"—held at the United Nations Headquarters on 28 October 2009. The meeting, co-sponsored by the NGO Committee on Freedom of Religion or Belief, the BYU International Center for Law and Religion ...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. Professor Durham traveled to Volgograd, Russia, 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) traveled 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, held 29-30 October 2009 at the Santiago Campus of the University of Talca, was organized by the Faculty of Law and Social Sciences, University of Talca; the Faculty of Law, ...More

The St. Thomas More Society of Utah presented its First Annual Religion and the Law Program: "Reconciling Religious Values with Professionalism and Civility" on 5 November 2009, in Salt Lake City, Utah. The program focused on the blending of spiritual beliefs with professionalism, civility, and professional responsibility. The panel discussion was moderated by Professor W. Cole Durham, Jr., Director of the International Center for Law and Religion Studies at Brigham Young University. Panelists included Alan Bachman, Assistant Utah Attorney General; ...More