The second quarter of 2010 has been productive and rewarding for the scholars and supporters of the International Center for Law and Religion Studies. As you will read in this newsletter, important conferences have taken Center personnel, associates, and friends into fruitful discussions in the United Kingdom, Europe, and Far-Eastern Russia. In Provo, we have enlisted student researchers from the J. Reuben Clark Law School as well as Summer Research Externs from nine other law schools to assist with our numerous ambitious publishing projects. The 2010 Student Research Fellows are in the ... More

The International Center for Law and Religion Studies enthusiastically welcomes the assistance of Marshall Morrise, who has been engaged by the Center to advise the technology team. On board since January 2010, Marshall brings expertise, experience, and dedication that are proving invaluable assets to the Center's work. Born in Provo, Utah, to parents who were both graduates of Brigham Young University, Marshall grew up primarily in Roy, Utah. He entered BYU in 1974, and after serving an LDS mission to Pusan, Korea, he graduated from BYU with a B.S. in computer science and ... More

The Student Research Fellows Program of the International Center for Law and Religion Studies provides an opportunity for law students to combine an international externship with significant research and writing in the area of freedom of religion or belief. Many of this year's Fellows have now completed their six weeks in Salt Lake City and around the world and are returning to continue their ... More

The Center is pleased to welcome the 2010 Summer Research Externs, who have come to Provo from nine U.S. law schools. We are grateful for the work of these outstanding students, who are providing invaluable assistance with our research and writing ... More

Professor Rik Torfs, member of the Academic Advisory Board of the International Center for Law and Religion Studies, was on 13 June 2010 elected to the Belgian Senate, obtaining 143,603 votes, which is the ninth position of the 40 members elected directly. Professor was considered a "white rabbit" in the election, meaning ... More

The International Center for Law and Religion Studies, in association with the Washington, D.C., chapter of the J. Reuben Clark Law Society, is sponsoring a writing contest open to all student members of the Clark Society. The purpose of the competition is to promote quality research and writing by the student members of the Society on the important topic of religious freedom. Winning papers will receive cash awards, and one or more will be published online and possibly ... More

ICLRS Associate Director Professor Brett G. Scharffs participated in a roundtable conference, "Laïcité in Comparative Perspective," held at the Paris campus of St. John's University on 11 June 2010. The conference focused on contemporary issues of laïcité in France and comparative perspectives on religion-state ... More

The International Center for Law and Religion Studies at Brigham Young University was among the institutional organizers of the Oxford Conference on Law and Religion, held from 7-9 June 2010 on the historic grounds of Balliol College, Oxford. Under the organizational leadership of Dr. Peter Petkoff, the three-day event was sponsored by the Oxford Society for Law and Religion, the University of Bristol School of Law, the International Consortium for Law ... More

The International Center for Law and Religion Studies was among the institutional members of Strasbourg Consortium to participate in a meeting of the Consortium held in conjunction with the Oxford Conference on Law and Religion, which took place 7-9 June 2010 at Balliol College, Oxford. The Reverend Dr. Ralph Waller, Principal of Harris Manchester College, invited sixteen member representatives and leaders of the Consortium to convene a working meeting on 8 June at ... More

Dr. David M. Kirkham, ICLRS Senior Fellow and Regional Advisor for the European Union and the Council of Europe, represented the Center at four major conferences in Europe in May and June 2010. Dr. Kirkham presented a paper, "Religious Intolerance and Discrimination: Reflections on Causes and Contermeasures," at the conference "Religious Discrimination in Selected European States," held 27-28 May ... More

ICLRS Associate Director Brett G. Scharffs was a lead participant in the Freedom of Religion or Belief session of the Rothermere conference "US Constitutionalism in Decline?: An International Perspective" in Oxford, United Kingdom, on 28 April 2010. The Rothermere American Institute of Oxford University is an international center dedicated to interdisciplinary and comparative study of the United States. With "finest library of American Politics, History and Literature to be found outside the USA," the Institute promotes understanding of U.S. history, culture, and ... More

The X international academic conference "Freedom of Conscience: International Standards and Experience in National Implementation," with emphasis upon the Russian Far East and Countries of the Asia-Pacific Region, was held in Blagoveshchensk, Russia, 19-21 April 2010. Bringing together government officials, scholars, journalists, and religious leaders from across Russia, predominantly from the Russian Far East, the conference raised issues of national ... More

In keeping with its ongoing Islamic initiatives, the International Center for Law and Religion Studies co-sponsored with the Università degli Studi dell’Insubria the international workshop "Law and Religion in Mediterranean Islam" in Como, Italy, from 6-8 April 2010. An important outcome of the workshop will be a book on the conference topic. Attending the conference were Center directors W. Cole Durham, Jr., and Gary B. Doxey, as well as International Advisory ... More

The International Center for Law and Religion Studies has announced the 2010 Annual International Law and Religion Symposium, to be held 3-6 October at Brigham Young University's J. Reuben Clark Law School in Provo, Utah. This year's Symposium will concern "Religion in Contemporary Legal Systems." Participants will be invited to address such topics as "Regulating Religious Speech and Symbols," "Islamic Practice: Differing Experiences," and  ... More

On 28 June 2010, the U. S. Supreme Court handed down what is widely predicted to be a significant ruling in First Amendment jurisprudence. The Court's decision in Christian Legal Society v. Martinez is seen by some observers as a blow to religious freedom in the United States, while others consider it a victory for individual rights. The 5-4 opinion of the Court was delivered by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, ... More

On 30 June 2010, the 19-judge Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights heard the controversial case Lautsi v. Italy, in proceedings broadcast live from the ... More

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced on 15 June 2010 President Barack Obama's nomination of Dr. Suzan Johnson Cook as the United States Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, filling an 18-month vacancy in this critical diplomatic post. "Dr. Johnson Cook is an experienced religious leader with a ... More

In a judgment of potential significance for future U.S. church-state disputes, the Supreme Court of the United States has ruled that a California federal court went too far in ordering the removal of a war memorial cross long displayed on federal land in a remote area of the California desert. The 5-4 opinion of 28 April 2010 in Salazar v. Buono concerned the 7-foot-tall metal cross erected in 1934 by the Veterans of Foreign Wars on Sunrise Rock in the Mojave National Preserve. In ... More