Raúl Scialabba, is Vicepresident of the of the Argentine Baptist Association.
Former Vicepresident of the Baptist World Alliance representing Latinamerica. (2000/2005)
Lawyer and business man he have had different responsabilities within the Baptist work integrating different commissions such as BWA Executive Committee, General Council, Freedom and Justice Commission.
He has lead the 10th Youth Baptist World Congress (1984) and the 17th Baptist World Congress.
As a lay person he has propitiated the participation of his collegues in the life of the world organism, integrating different commissions such as BWA Executive Committee, General Council, Promotion and Development, Resolutions, Freedom and Justice Commission.
Actually he is president of the (CALIR) Argentinine Council for Religion Liberty.
Dr. Ameer Ali is citizen of Australia. He was born in Sri Lanka and was educated at the University of Ceylon, the London School of Economics and Political Science, and the University of Western Australia. He is a trained economist and in that field has taught students in Sri Lanka, Brunei Darussalam and Australia, both at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels. He is now a lecture in Murdoch University of Western Australia.
His research interest however, is in the socio-economic development of Muslim minorities and in that area he has published dozens of research articles in international journals. He is the author of From Penury to Plenty: Development of Brunei Darussalam from 1906 to Present. He is also an associate editor of The Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs.
In Australia he has been the President of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils and was appointed by the Howard Government as the Chairman of the Muslim Community Reference Group. He is also an active participant in the international interfaith dialogues sponsored by the Australian Government. Currently, he is the vice-President of the Regional Da’wa Council of South East Asia and the Pacific (RISEAP).
Denise Meyerson is currently a Professor in the Division of Law at Macquarie University and an Honorary Professor in the Law Faculty at the University of Cape Town. Previously she held the W P Schreiner Chair in the Law Faculty at the University of Cape Town. She was appointed a Visiting Fellow at All Souls College, Oxford in 1996. She holds the degrees of BA from the University of the Witwatersrand, LLB from the University of Cape Town (magna cum laude), and B Phil and D Phil (in philosophy) from the University of Oxford. Her research interests are principally in the areas of jurisprudence, the theoretical foundations of public law, comparative constitutionalism, human rights law, and law and religion. She has published numerous articles and book chapters. Her books include False Consciousness (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991); Rights Limited: Freedom of Expression, Religion and the South African Constitution (Cape Town: Juta, 1997); and Understanding Jurisprudence (Oxford and New York: Routledge.Cavendish, 2007). She co-edited Law and Religion: God, the State and the Common Law (London and New York: Routledge, 2005). Her most recent writings in the area of law and religion are the entry on religion in the New Oxford Companion to Law (Oxford: Oxford University Press, forthcoming, 2008) and a chapter in a volume entitled Law and Religion in Theoretical and Historical Context (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, forthcoming 2008).
J. E. PRECHT (B. A. Universidad de Chile; L L Universidad de Chile; Master of Laws on International and Comparative law KUL, Brussel; J. D. Université Catholique de Louvain Belgium; Pol. Sc. D, UCL Louvain), is Senior Fellow for Public Law at the Catholic University of Chile. He is the author of numerous books and articles including Derecho Eclesiástico del Estado de Chile, as well as, Análisis históricos y doctrinales; 15 Estudios sobre libertad religiosa en Chile. He is preparing a comparative analysis of the Latin American laws on laïcité and a book about the Chilean law of freedom of religion (1999) and their draft - laws until 2008.
Zhuo, Xinping, born in Hunan, China in 1955; M.A. in Graduate School of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in 1981; Ph.D. in Munich University Germany in 1987; now Director and Professor of Institute of World Religions, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Chairperson of Chinese Association for Religious Studies, also CASS Member.
Nació el día 10 de diciembre de 1942 en la ciudad de Santo Domingo. Se graduó de Doctor en Derecho en la Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo (UASD) en el año 1967. Suárez Dubernay ha participado como profesor en diferentes cursos extracurriculares y de monográficos; ha sido Presidente de la Asociación Dominicana del Derecho de Trabajo y la Seguridad Social, Asociación Dominicana de Abogados (ADOMA) y de la Unión Dominicana para la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos. Profesor honorario de la Universidad Central del Este (UCE) y Profesor de Derecho del Trabajo de la Pontificia Universidad Católica Madre y Maestra (PUCMM). Ha publicado: “ Jurisprudencia Dominicana del Trabajo” (1990-2001) y “Forjando una Conciencia Judicial” (2005).
Saif Mahmood [LL.M., Ph.D], Advocate, Supreme Court of India and Senior Partner of New Delhi based law firm ‘Amicus Juris’, has had an exceptionally brilliant academic and professional career. Having completed his Bachelors degree with an honours in Political Science and a first law degree from the University of Delhi, he took a Post Graduation in English Journalism and Law. He then completed a doctorate in Constitutional Law with a specialization in Comparative Constitutional Law in South Asian countries. He also holds a Certificate in Alternative Dispute Resolution from the United Nations Institute for Training and Research. Before being called to the Bar at Delhi, he underwent a reputed Solicitors’ Internship in London where he worked with one of the leading Solicitors’ firms of the United Kingdom rated amongst the top 10% of English Firms. After a year of active practice before the Supreme Court of India, various State High Courts, the National Human Rights Commission and other higher tribunals and quasi-judicial fora of the country, he returned to the UK for a prestigious fellowship in the Law of Contract at the University of Bristol where he worked with the noted jurist Professor Michael Furmston. Having worked with prominent English law firms and researched at renowned British institutions, he is well aware of the English and common law legal systems. For a couple of years he worked in the Chambers of the leading Supreme Court lawyer, Former Additional Solicitor General of India, Dr. A.M. Singhvi, now Member of Parliament, who he actively assisted in landmark Constitutional and human rights cases.
Dr. Mahmood’s interests lie in Constitutional Law and Litigation, Human Rights & Civil Liberties in India and South Asia, South Asian Regional Cooperation in Law, Law of Religion-State Relations, Arbitration and Conciliation and Corporate Laws – subjects on which he has widely written and lectured, handled a wide variety of cases before all levels of courts and quasi-judicial fora in the country, has advised public sector entities and non-governmental organizations and has arranged, spoken at, participated in and attended numerous International and National conferences, seminars and symposia.
A prolific speaker with the courage of conviction, Dr. Mahmood has an excellent track-record of successful court arguments, writes for various legal and other periodicals and is an author. An ardent human rights activist, he has worked for the National Human Rights Commission of India and the National Commission for Minorities in their most eventful years. Widely traveled all over the globe, he is actively associated with a number of academic, legal, professional and literary International and National organizations including the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation in Law (SAARCLAW), the Global Jurists Foundation, the Indian Council or Arbitration and the Association of British Scholars, India. He has also been elected to the Executive Councils of the Asia Pacific Jurist Association (of which he is currently the Treasurer), the Economic and Legal Forum (of which he is currently the Secretary), the International Consortium on Religion and Law Studies (of which he is currently the Asia Coordinator) and Indian Intellectual Property Attorneys’ Association. The Delhi High Court has recently appointed him as Amicus Curae in an important case relating to Religion and Law.
Dr. Setsu Kobayashi is one of the most prominent constitutional scholars in Japan today. He is a senior professor of law at Keio University, the oldest and one of the most prestigious institutions for higher education in Japan, and also Director of Legal Research and Training Center there. He has published numerous articles concerning the constitutional issues. Prof. Kobayashi is one of the constitutional scholars who are most frequently called by the Parliament in public hearings when issues on constitutional law are discussed in the Houses. He has almost always participated in the drafting or legislative process when constitutionality of a bill has been questioned in Japan.
Prof. Kobayashi in the most influential scholar especially on the matter of proposals of amendment to the Constitution.
He is also a columnist and a practicing attorney.
He, as an invited professor, lectured on the Japanese constitution and politics at University of Beijing, China in 1994, helped Ukraine to examine an amendment to the constitution of that country in 2000, was an appointed fellow at Harvard University Kennedy School of Government in 1996-97, and also was awarded an honorar doctor by Otgontenger University, Mongolia in 2002.
Abdullah Nu’man is Deputy Head of the Islamic Community of Serbia with administrative headquarters in Belgrade, Republic of Serbia.
He has an Honours Arts Degree (Melbourne University) majoring in Arabic and Islamic studies; Bachelor of Social Work (MU); Master of Arts – Islamic Studies (MU) and Graduate Diploma in Business Management.
He studied Islamic Studies at the Islamic University of Medina, Saudi Arabia.
He is a founding member of the first Multi-faith Resource Centre in Australia, and has a background in lecturing in Islamic Studies, Sociology, Social Work, Community Development and Multi-culturalism.
He is a former Director of the World Conference on Religion and Peace.
He has particular interest in ethics as a theory, in application and its relationship with law.
Helena van Coller teaches Business Structures and Administrative Law at Rhodes University, South Africa. She obtained her LLB and LLM degrees (both with distinction) from the University of the Free State, South Africa and an LLM (with distinction) from the University of Utrecht, The Netherlands. She was admitted as an advocate in 2004.
She is involved in a Church-State project (working group), which gave legislative guidelines to churches (during the Church-State Conference in October 2007 at Stellenbosch University), amongst others, on various aspects of the church and freedom of religion, equality and dignity and the church and administrative justice. She delivered a paper at the Conference on the legal personality of churches from a Legal perspective, which were published in the Dutch Reformed Theological Journal. This group is also involved in the drafting of a Bill of Religious Rights for South Africa.
She is currently registered for her LL.D in Administrative Law. The topic explores the administrative law functioning of voluntary associations, with specific reference to churches and ecclesiastical bodies.
Paul Carrese is a Professor of Political Science at the U.S. Air Force Academy, and also the co-founder and former director of the Scholars Program, the Academy’s Great books honors program. He holds graduate degrees from Oxford University in politics & philosophy and in theology, and a doctorate in political science from Boston College University. He has been a Rhodes Scholar and research fellow in Government at Harvard University, and a Fulbright Scholar lecturing in political theory at the University of Delhi. His teaching and research includes political theory, American political thought, American constitutional law, American foreign policy, and leadership. He is co-editor of a new edition of The Life of George Washington (2001), written in the 19th century by American Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall, and author of The Cloaking of Power: Montesquieu, Blackstone, and the Rise of Judicial Activism (University of Chicago, 2003). He has published and lectured on various themes and thinkers in political theory and American political thought, as well as on American foreign policy, religion & politics, and leadership. He and his wife Susan have two children. His current research is on the French philosopher Tocqueville and on the theme of moderation in liberal democracy, both in domestic and foreign policy, and also moderation in philosophy and in statesmanship – with a book manuscript in progress, Democracy in Moderation.
