Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona was the keynote speaker at the 2017 Religious Freedom Annual Review, held July 6-7, 2017, in the Conference Center on the Campus of Brigham Young University. Hosted by the International Center for Law and Religion Studies of BYU Law School, the Annual Review provides an up-to-date review for lawyers and nonlawyers on religious freedom challenges in the United States and around the world.
Senator Flake's keynote address is available on the Center's Facebook page.
As a member of the US Senate, Senator Flake sits on the Judiciary Committee, the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and Foreign Relations Committee where he also serves as chairman of Subcommittee on African Affairs. Senator Flake is a fifth-generation Arizonan who was raised on a cattle ranch in Snowflake, Arizona. The town was named in part for Senator Flake's great-great grandfather. After serving a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in southern Africa, He graduated from Brigham Young University, where he received a BA in International Relations and an MA in Political Science. He started his career at a Washington, DC public affairs firm, but soon returned to Africa as Executive Director of the Foundation for Democracy in Namibia. In this role, Senator Flake helped monitor Namibia's independence process and saw that nation usher in freedom and democracy.
In 1992 Senator Flake and his family moved back to Arizona, where he was named Executive Director of the Goldwater Institute where he worked to promote a conservative philosophy of less government, more freedom, and individual responsibility. Prior to his election to the US Senate, Senator Flake served in the US House of Representatives from 2001-2013 representing the East Valley.
Watch this space for information about availability of dedicated links to the recording of Senator Flake's keynote address and other sessions of the Review.