In addition to the projects appearing on this page, the Center is also involved in developing ongoing courses for promoting the study of law and religion in Indonesia, China, and Vietnam. In 2013 the Center launched a series of regional conferences, beginning with Ghana in January, and followed by Latvia in April, Moscow in May, Oxford in June, China in July, and Vietnam in September. The Center is grateful for the ongoing financial and scholarly support that makes these and other important projects possible.
The site www.religlaw.org is a major International Website Database on Religious Freedom Issues. In cooperation with the OSCE and several other research institutions, the Center created this website and the services it provides, as a key part of our strategy for establishing meaningful links with experts around the world.
Begun in 2005, www.strasbourgconsortium.org is dedicated to the discussion and exchange of ideas regarding cases brought before the European Court of Human Rights, particularly cases involving religion and freedom of belief issues. In addition to providing a resource to scholars and other leaders, this site allows for a continuing dialogue on these topics. The International Center for Law and Religion Studies works with several affiliated institutions to promote this discussion.
The International Center for Law and Religion Studies announces the third Religious Freedom Discussion Series. The lectures, followed by a brief question & answer period, are held in room 472 JRCB on the campus of Brigham Young University at noon on six Wednesdays each year, and are simulcast by limited-space Webinar to listeners worldwide. The public is invited to attend the lectures in person. For those joining by Webinar, early registration to secure a place is encouraged. Webinar links are available on iclrs.org one week before each lecture.
The right to freedom of religion is increasingly vulnerable worldwide. Recent studies find that 75 percent of the world’s population live under high or very high restrictions on religious freedom, and restrictions in many... more
The Oxford Journal of Law and Religion was introduced to the Oxford Journals collection in early 2012. The first issue appeared in print on 1 April 2012, followed by the second issue on 1 October. These issues, along with advance access to the third issue, are available free of charge on the Journal's website.
The new journal was developed "in response to the recent proliferation of research and writing on the interaction of law and religion cutting across many disciplines." The launch of the Journal was marked by Oxford Journal of Law and Religion Colloquium, hosted by the Religion and International Relations Programme of the Centre for Christianity and Culture and held 19 April 2012 at Regent's Park College, Oxford, UK.
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The Research Advisors of the International Center for Law and Religion Studies are part of an official network of experts who are interested in assisting the Center on selected projects and otherwise promoting the Center's work through building relationships with key members of the religious freedom community and helping to increase local and global awareness of religious freedom principles.
Research Advisors complete a formal training curriculum and commit to a one- or two-year term. After completing the training, they work on a variety of projects, including mapping how governments in various countries are organized to address religious freedom issues, gathering materials to... more
Islam and Political-Cultural Europe
W. Cole Durham Jr., David M. Kirkham, Tore Lindholm, eds.
Ashgate 2012
Islam and Political-Cultural Europe identifies the sometimes confusing and often contentious new challenges that arise in daily life and institutions as Islam settles deeper into Europe. Critiquing past and recent assimilation efforts in the fields of education, finance, and security, the contributors offer prospective solutions to diverse contemporary problems. Exploring the interactions... more
Islam, Europe and Emerging Legal Issues
Edited by W. Cole Durham Jr., Rik Torfs, David M. Kirkham, and Christine Scott
Ashgate Publishers 2012
Islam, Europe and Emerging Legal Issues brings together vital analysis of the challenges that Europe poses for an expanding Islam and that Islam poses for Europe, within their ever-evolving religious, legal, and social environments. This book gathers some of the best thinking on Islam and the law affecting current and contested issues that can no longer be... more
The 2011-2012 edition treatise Religious Organizations and the Law is now available. This comprehensive work originated by William W. Bassett, Emeritus Professor of Law at the University of San Francisco, has been updated annually since 1997 and in 2012 has expanded to 4000 pages in four volumes. The work is co-authored by Professors W. Cole Durham, Jr., and Robert T. Smith, and employs the research assistance of students and staff at the International Center for Law and Religion Studies at Brigham Young University, as well as an outstanding interdenominational advisory board of legal... more
The International Center for Law and Religion Studies and Aspen Publishers / Wolters Kluwer Law & Business are pleased to announce the release of the casebook Law and Religion: National, International, and Comparative Perspectives, co-authored by ICLRS Director W. Cole Durham, Jr. and Associate Director Brett G. Scharffs, with contributions from many others at the Center, especially Coordinating Editor Suzanne Sitthichai Disparte. Developed for use in English-speaking law-school courses, the work is dynamic combination of... more
The Center has sponsored the Russian translation and publication of two important reference works in the field of law and religion: Facilitating Freedom of Religion or Belief: A Deskbook and Gerhard Robbers' State and Church in the European Union. The translation of the Deskbook was jointly sponsored by the Oslo Coalition on Freedom of Religion and Belief. Both works will provide significant resources... more
Since the publication of the internationally significant work Facilitating Freedom of Religion or Belief: A Deskbook, many appeals for its translation have been made. Consequently, the Center has undertaken the task of translating the deskbook into Indonesian, Russian, Arabic, and Mandarin Chinese. The Indonesian Translation has now been published, and the Russian Translation was launched in events in Moscow and Kyiv in early August 2010. The deskbook anthology is designed as... more
The International Center for Law and Religion Studies announces the publication of the volume Religion and the Secular State / La Religion et l’État laïque: Interim Reports, prepared for and issued upon the occasion of The XVIIIth International Congress of Comparative Law, held from July 25 through August 1, 2010, in Washington, D.C. The 832-page volume represents the work of the General Reporters for the Congress topic Religion and the Secular State, Professor W. Cole Durham, Jr. Director of the International Center for Law and Religion Studies at Brigham Young University and member of the ICLRS Academic Advisory... more