Associate Director Elizabeth Clark participated in a conference sponsored by the United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities. Held in New Brighton, MN, the conference titled “Violence, Social Justice, and Human Rights at the Intersection of Law and Religion” was held 19-20 of October 2017. Panels included discussion on law and violence, global social justice, and the source of human rights. 

Clark participated on the global social justice panel with panelists Azizah al-Hibri, University of Richmond Law School; Ayesha Chaudhry, University of British Columbia-Vancouver; and Vincent Rougeau, Boston College Law School. The conference described the panel as follows: 

The cry for social justice on a global scale demands both critiques of the false narratives of modernity and a new imagination about achieving such justice. Both Muslim and Christian intellectuals are challenging the “clash of civilizations” rhetoric and the identity politics that marginalizes Muslims and other minorities, and separates peoples by nation and culture. This panel will explore intellectual challenges to these ideologies, from Pope Francis’ call for a radical embrace of the other to arguments for the renewed salience of religious communities and religious freedom as a challenge to state power and social injustice to Muslim feminists’ exploration of the contested nature of Islamic feminisms through intersectionality analysis of the politics of social justice. Similarly, Muslim thinkers who call for an inclusive Islamic vision for social justice that ensures the human dignity of women and others and the Pope’s more cosmopolitan vision for the Roman Catholic Church offer hope for a new vision of solidarity among diverse peoples and nations. This panel will explore both critiques and possibilities.

Many of the conference speakers have articles in the Journal of Law and Religion on the conference topics. The conference schedule and panel descriptions are available here.