CESNUR Conference Held at London School of Economics, 16-20 April 2008

The 2008 International Conference sponsored by CESNUR (Center for Studies on New Religions) and INFORM (Information Network on Religious Movements) was held 16-20 April 2008, at the London School of Economics. The Conference theme was “Twenty Years and More: Research into Minority Religions, New Religious Movements and ‘the New Spirituality’.” Participants consisted of experts and scholars who study individual religious movements as well as the interrelation between the movements, particularly new religious movements with the state. The International Center for Law and Religion Studies at Brigham Young University sponsored a panel on “Shifting Legal Frameworks for Protection of Non-Traditional Religious Communities in Post-Communist Lands.” Experts on the panel included Alexander Verkhovsky (Director, SOVA Centre for Information and Analysis, Moscow), Romanita Iordache Human Rights Lawyer, Center for Legal Resources, Romania), and Archil Giorgadze (Head of Human Rights Protection Unit, Office of the Prosecutor General of Georgia). The Center’s participants, W. Cole Durham and Christine Scott, chaired panels and presented papers on “Shifting Legal Frameworks for Protection of Non-Traditional Religious Communities in Post-Communist Lands” and “Twenty Years of Studies on Religious Pluralism in the Former Soviet Union,” respectively. To see the 2008 Program, please click here.