The Fourteenth Annual International Law and Religion Symposium, “Religion, Identity and Stability: Legal Challenges of Religious Difference,” 7-9 October 2007

The difficult subject of the 2007 Symposium attracted intense discussion and lively debate. Conference presentations and discussions raised the challenges of retaining national identity and social stability while preserving rights to religious freedom and the possibility of religious difference. Participants included 65 delegates from 31 countries and included constitutional court justices, members of parliament, and heads of state departments or committees on religion. Luis Alberto Lacalle, Former President of Uruguay, and Ibader Thiam, First Vice-President, National Assembly of Senegal delivered keynote addresses. Plenary sessions addressed issues such as “Identity, Stereotypes and Discrimination,” “Comparative Legal Perspectives on Islam and Religious Difference,” and “Grappling With Religious Difference.” After the conference, some participants further developed their papers, which were then published in the annual law and religion symposium issue of the BYU Law Review. During the conference, the Center’s Distinguished Service Award was presented to Anatoly Kolodny and Lyudmila Filipovich from Ukraine.