Academic Conference: “Beyond ‘Defensive Crouch,’ Religious Freedom”

Top law and religion scholars, litigators, and policy experts gathered March 24-25 for a conference on religious freedom hosted by the Liberty & Law Center at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School.

The conference, “Beyond ‘Defensive Crouch,’ Religious Freedom” explored: the goods and values that religious exercise furthers, including institutional religious exercise; how religious values can not only serve, but even better promote the values of equality, dignity, and freedom as currently articulated by the state; and how religious institutions might better understand and communicate the social worth of religion and religious freedom. Findings were presented in four panels over the course of two days.

ICLRS Associate Director Elizabeth Clark participated on the first day in a panel titled “Religion – Socially Valuable as Religion or Something Else?” She was joined by Gerard V. Bradley, Professor of Law, Notre Dame Law School. Shannon Minter, Legal Director, National Center for Lesbian Rights and Anthony R. Picarello, Jr., Associate General Secretary for Policy and Advocacy and General Counsel, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, were respondents and the panel was moderated by Helen Alvaré, Robert A. Levy Endowed Chair in Law and Liberty and Professor of Law,  Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University.

Frederick M. Gedicks, Guy Anderson Chair and Professor of Law, BYU Law, also participated in the conference on a panel titled “Reimagining Religious Freedom in its Twenty-First Century Context.”

Conference Recordings (Elizabeth Clark speaks in session 1 about 43:54)

Press coverage:  https://www.catholicherald.com/article/local/arlington-law-school-conference-talks-faith-and-reason/