2013 Retrospective
Newsletter 21 December 2013
Dear Friends,
On behalf of all of us working at the International Center for Law and Religion Studies at BYU, I want to extend our warmest personal holiday greetings. We approach the conclusion of another year of endeavor with gratitude for new friendships made and longtime friendships strengthened and renewed.
Reviewing the events of the past year while preparing our 2013 Annual Report has reminded me of the remarkable opportunities we have had to collaborate with others. This year we held our 20th Annual International Law and Religion Symposium, devoted to discussions about “Religion and Human Rights.”…
Center Thanks and Honors Scott and Christine Cameron for Devoted Service
In an emotional tribute at a meeting held in conjunction with the 20th Annual International Law and Religion Symposium in Provo in October 2013, Director Cole Durham of the International Center for Law and Religion Studies expressed the Center’s heartfelt thanks to Dean Scott Cameron and his wife, Christine, for extraordinarily devoted service over many years, to the Center and to the cause of religious freedom. “I just have to say that Scott has been, in many ways, the heart of the Law school,” said Professor Durham. “I don’t think there’s anyone who has taken a more holistic view of law students and of the legal community.”
Scott Cameron most recently served the Law School…
Professor Brett Scharffs Appointed JRCLS Associate Dean of Academic Affairs
J. Reuben Clark Law School Dean James R. Rasband has announced the appointment of Brett G. Scharffs as Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, effective July 1, 2013. Professor Scharffs, Francis R. Kirkham Professor of Law, joined the BYU Law School in 1997. He has been the Associate Director of the International Center for Law and Religion Studies for the past four years. His scholarly interests include comparative law and religion, philosophy of law, and international business law.
Professor Scharffs is a graduate of Georgetown University, where he received a B.S.B.A in international business and an M.A. in philosophy. He was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University, where he earned a B.Phil in philosophy. He received his J. D. from Yale Law School…
ICLRS Thanks Website Development Manager Marshall Morrise
With deep gratitude for his dedication to furthering its mission and enhancing its work, the International Center for Law and Religion Studies bids farewell to Website Development Manager Marshall Morrise, who for three-and-a-half years has applied his invaluable expertise, experience, and creativity to many of the Center’s projects, but particularly to the functionality and capacity of its three websites.
Marshall and his wife, Susan Lorraine Hall Morrise, have now (June 2013) left for a three-year assignment in South Korea, where Marshall serves as President of the newly created Korea Seoul South Mission of The Church of Jesus-Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS).
Marshall entered Brigham Young University as a freshman in 1974, and after serving an LDS mission to Pusan, Korea, he graduated…
Linda Nearon Donates “Majesty of the Bridge” Painting to the Center
At a meeting of the International Advisory Council (IAC) of the International Center for Law and Religion Studies held in Salt Lake City in April 2013, artist Linda Nearon, a member of the IAC Executive Committee, presented her painting, “The Majesty of the Golden Gate Bridge” to Cole Durham, Center Director. Linda and her husband, David, are longtime friends and supporters of the Center, and we are most grateful for this gift, and for others of Linda’s beautiful paintings that are hung in the office in the J. Reuben Clark Law School at Brigham Young University. The inspiration for this most-recent of Linda’s paintings was a idea of Director Durham’s about the work of those who are devoted to the cause of religious freedom, who sometimes walk “out onto the bridge,” as if through mists…
20th Annual International Law and Religion Symposium – “Religion and Human Rights”
- The Delegates: More than 80 scholars, legal professsionals, judges, government officials, and religious leaders, from 43 countries
- About the Conference Theme: The Edict of Milan
- Keynote Speakers: Françoise Tulkens and Malcolm Evans
- Live Webcasts: Opening and closing sessions & 8 other sessions
- Weather: Chilly and clear
- More information on the the 2013 Symposium Web Page.
Professor Cole Durham at Discussion Series: “Against Free Exercise Reductionism”
W. Cole Durham, Jr., Director of The International Center for Law and Religion Studies and Susa Young Gates Professor of Law at Brigham Young University, J. Reuben Clark Law School, presented the first lecture in the third Religious Freedom Discussion Series on Wednesday, 20 March 2013. Professor Durham’s topic was “Against Free Exercise Reductionism.”
- The PowerPoint presentation: download here.
- The recording of the live Webinar: mp4 format wmv format
…
Symposium 2012 Photos Now Available Online
Please be aware that photographs by Erlyn and Duane Madsen, Linda Nearon, Lynn Anderson, and David Westerby taken during the 18th Annual International Law and Religion Symposium (2011) are now available online. Photos from the 2012 Symposium – taken by Matt Imbler, Crys Kevan Lee, Page Johnson, and David Christensen – have also been posted. To view photos from recent Symposia, click the links below:
Religious Liberty Leader Elder Dallin H. Oaks Awarded Becket Fund’s Highest Honor
New York City, NY (16 May 2013) – Tonight Elder Dallin H. Oaks received the highest honor awarded by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, the nation’s premier religious liberty law firm, at the 18th anniversary Canterbury Medal Dinner at the Pierre in New York City, NY.
The Canterbury Medal, the Becket Fund award, is given to a person who has “most resolutely refused to render to Caesar that which is God’s.” This year’s medalist, Elder Oaks, Apostle for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, received the award in recognition of his work defending religious liberty, as a Chicago Law professor, Utah Supreme Court Justice, and Church…
ICLRS Presents Awards to Outstanding Law Students
The J. Reuben Clark Law School held its annual Barrister’s Ball & Awards Banquet at the Provo City Library on 28 March 2013. Among the awards received by students were service awards presented by The International Center for Law and Religion Studies. M. Brandon Bastian and Cecily Elizabeth Couture each received the Center’s Meritorious Service Award, given to graduating law students who render extraordinary service to the Center during their three years of law school.
The Center was also pleased to present Joshua Clark Bishop, Justin Caplin, and Rachel Snow with awards for…
Visitors to campus
14 March 2013. Public Policy for Religous Leaders: A Project for Iraq, visit to Brigham Young University by delegation from Iraq, Mr. Hayder Murtadha Ali AFAND, Editor, Journal of Hussein Revivalism; Mr. Huthifa Munaf Abdulmunem AL-MASHHADANY, Senior Adviser, Tawafuq Front; Hon. Najeeb Abdullah Muhi MUHI, Member of Parliament.
