Religious Freedom Project
Georgetown University's Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs has received a $2 million grant from the John Templeton Foundation to support the interdisciplinary study of religious...
RELATED THEME
Religious Freedom in the U.S. and Europe
While the role of religion can be strikingly different on both sides of the Atlantic, American and European societies face similar challenges to religious liberty. The U.S. model of high levels of...UPCOMING EVENTS
October 9, 2013
Freedom to Flourish: Can Religious Liberty Contribute to Justice, Human Dignity, and the Success of Societies Everywhere?
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AT THE CENTER
PROJECT LEADERS
Thomas Farr
Thomas F. Farr is Director of the Religious Freedom Project at the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs and a Visiting Associate...
Timothy Shah
Timothy Samuel Shah is Associate Director of the Religious Freedom Project at the Berkley Center For Religion, Peace, and World Affairs and...
ASSOCIATE SCHOLARS
José Casanova
José Casanova is one of the world's top scholars in the sociology of religion. He is a professor at the Department of Sociology at Georgetown...
Jean Bethke Elshtain
Jean Bethke Elshtain is the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Professor of Social and Political Ethics at the University of Chicago, where she also has...
William Inboden
William Inboden is Assistant Professor at the LBJ School of Public Affairs and Distinguished Scholar at the Strauss Center for International...
David Novak
David Novak holds the J. Richard and Dorothy Shiff Chair of Jewish Studies as Professor of the Study of Religion and Professor of Philosophy at the...
Daniel Philpott
Daniel Philpott is exploring Catholic and Protestant contributions to democracy from the years 1800-2000 for the Christianity and Freedom Project....
Mona Siddiqui
Mona Siddiqui is OBE is Professor of Islamic and Inter-religious Studies and Assistant Principal for Religion and Society at the University of...
Monica Duffy Toft
Monica Duffy Toft is Associate Professor of Public Policy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government and Director of the Initiative on Religion in...
Roger Trigg
Roger Trigg, of St Cross College, Oxford, is Senior Research Fellow in the Ian Ramsey Centre, University of Oxford, and a member of both the...
PROJECT STAFF
A.J. Nolte
A.J. Nolte joined the RFP at the beginning of October 2012, after two years as a research assistant at the Center for Complex Operations, National...
Kyle Vander Meulen
Kyle Vander Meulen joined the Berkley Center in January 2011. Before coming to the Center, he completed his master's studies in Divinity at the...
October 11, 2012
Which Model, Whose Liberty?: Differences between the U.S. and European Approaches to Religious Freedom
Religious freedom is in the headlines on both sides of the Atlantic. Although some have written of a "Western model" of religious liberty, is that label a myth? This conference—cosponsored by the RFP and the International Center for Law and Religion Studies at Brigham Young University's School of Law—examined the historic and emerging differences in how religious freedom was conceived and has been implemented on both sides of the Atlantic.
9:00 - 10:30am: Religion in the Democratic Public Square
Moderator
Thomas Farr, Director, Religious Freedom Project
Panelists:
Robert Audi, John O’Brien Professor of Philosophy, University of Notre Dame
Francis Beckwith, Professor of Philosophy and Church-State Studies, Baylor University
Sophie van Bijsterveld, Senator, the Netherlands; Professor of Law, Tilburg University
Fr. Raymond de Souza, Editor-in-Chief, Convivium Magazine
10:45am - 12:15pm: European and American Models of Religious Freedom: The Future of Religious Autonomy
Moderator
Cole Durham, Professor of Law, Brigham Young University
Panelists:
Carolyn Evans, Dean, Melbourne Law School, University of Melbourne
Leslie Griffin, William S. Boyd Professor of Law, University of Nevada School of Law
Kyle Duncan, General Counsel, Becket Fund for Religious Liberty
Gerhard Robbers, Director, Institute for European Constitutional Law and Director, Institute for Legal Policy, University of Trier, Germany
1:00 - 2:30pm: Institutional and Individual Conscience
Moderator
Michael Kessler, Associate Director, Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs
Panelists:
Javier Martinez-Torron, Director, Department of Church-State Law, Complutense University, Spain
Mark Rienzi, Assistant Professor, Columbus School of Law, The Catholic University of America
Melissa Rogers, Director, Center for Religion and Public Affairs, Wake Forest University
Rik Torfs, Senator, Belgium; Professor of Canon Law, University of Leuven, Belgium
2:45 - 4:15pm: Religious Minorities and Religious Freedom: The Cases of Muslims and Mormons
Moderator
Timothy Shah, Associate Director, Religious Freedom Project
Panelists:
Silvio Ferrari, Professor of Law, Universita degli Studi di Milano, Italy
Muqtedar Khan, Associate Professor, University of Delaware
Lena Larsen, Director, Norwegian Centre for Human Rights, University of Oslo
Nathan B. Oman, Assistant Professor, Marshall-Wythe School of Law, The College of William and Mary
Moderator
Thomas Farr, Director, Religious Freedom Project
Panelists:
Robert Audi, John O’Brien Professor of Philosophy, University of Notre Dame
Francis Beckwith, Professor of Philosophy and Church-State Studies, Baylor University
Sophie van Bijsterveld, Senator, the Netherlands; Professor of Law, Tilburg University
Fr. Raymond de Souza, Editor-in-Chief, Convivium Magazine
10:45am - 12:15pm: European and American Models of Religious Freedom: The Future of Religious Autonomy
Moderator
Cole Durham, Professor of Law, Brigham Young University
Panelists:
Carolyn Evans, Dean, Melbourne Law School, University of Melbourne
Leslie Griffin, William S. Boyd Professor of Law, University of Nevada School of Law
Kyle Duncan, General Counsel, Becket Fund for Religious Liberty
Gerhard Robbers, Director, Institute for European Constitutional Law and Director, Institute for Legal Policy, University of Trier, Germany
1:00 - 2:30pm: Institutional and Individual Conscience
Moderator
Michael Kessler, Associate Director, Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs
Panelists:
Javier Martinez-Torron, Director, Department of Church-State Law, Complutense University, Spain
Mark Rienzi, Assistant Professor, Columbus School of Law, The Catholic University of America
Melissa Rogers, Director, Center for Religion and Public Affairs, Wake Forest University
Rik Torfs, Senator, Belgium; Professor of Canon Law, University of Leuven, Belgium
2:45 - 4:15pm: Religious Minorities and Religious Freedom: The Cases of Muslims and Mormons
Moderator
Timothy Shah, Associate Director, Religious Freedom Project
Panelists:
Silvio Ferrari, Professor of Law, Universita degli Studi di Milano, Italy
Muqtedar Khan, Associate Professor, University of Delaware
Lena Larsen, Director, Norwegian Centre for Human Rights, University of Oslo
Nathan B. Oman, Assistant Professor, Marshall-Wythe School of Law, The College of William and Mary
Participants
Robert Audi
Robert Audi is the John A. O’Brien Professor of Philosophy and Professor of Management at the University of Notre Dame with research interests in ethics, political philosophy, epistemology, religious epistemology, and the philosophy of mind and...
Francis J. Beckwith
Francis J. Beckwith is professor of philosophy and church-state studies at Baylor University. He is currently a resident scholar in Baylor’s Institute for Studies of Religion and previously served as the Associate Director for the J.M. Dawson...
Sophie van Bijsterveld
Sophie van Bijsterveld is professor of Religion, State and Society at the School of Humanities at the University of Tilburg. She studied both civil and constitutional and administrative law at the University of Utrecht and received a Ph. D. in law...
Raymond de Souza
Father Raymond J. de Souza is a Roman Catholic priest in the Archdiocese of Kingston, Ontario, where he serves as chaplain for Newman House and professor of economics at Queen’s University. He is the Editor-In-Chief of Convivium magazine and a...
Kyle Duncan
Kyle Duncan has been general counsel of the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty since January 2012. Previously, he served as Louisiana Solicitor General from 2008-11, where he argued numerous appeals in state and federal courts, including the US...
Cole Durham
W. Cole Durham, Jr. is the Director of the International Center for Law and Religion Studies, a research center based at Brigham Young University, where he is also the Susa Young Gates University Professor of Law at the J. Reuben Clark Law School....
Carolyn Evans
Carolyn Evans is the Deputy Director of the Centre for Comparative Constitutional Studies and a Professor at Melbourne Law School; previously the Associate Dean (Research) of the Melbourne Law School, she will become Dean in February 2011. She is...
Thomas Farr
Full List of Publications
Thomas F. Farr is Director of the Religious Freedom Project at the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs and a Visiting Associate Professor of Religion and International Affairs at Georgetown’s Edmund A....
Thomas F. Farr is Director of the Religious Freedom Project at the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs and a Visiting Associate Professor of Religion and International Affairs at Georgetown’s Edmund A....
Silvio Ferrari
Silvio Ferrari is professor in the law faculty of the University of Milan (Università degli Studi di Milano) and president of the International Consortium for Law and Religious Studies. He is one of the experts on the legal status of Islam...
Leslie Griffin
Leslie Griffin is the William S. Boyd Professor of Law at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, William S. Boyd School of Law and teaches classes in law and religion, torts, and professional responsibility. She is author of Law and Religion: Cases...
Michael Kessler
Michael Kessler is Associate Director of the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs at Georgetown University, a Visiting Assistant Professor of Government, and an Adjunct Professor of Law, Georgetown University Law Center. He works...
Muqtedar Khan
Muqtedar Khan is an Associate Professor of Political Science and International Relations at the University of Delaware, where he was the founding director of the Islamic Studies Program from 2007-10. Khan is also a Fellow with the Institute for...
Lena Larsen
Lena Larsen is the project director of the Oslo Coalition on Freedom of Religion or Belief at the University of Oslo. She received her doctorate in 2011 from the University of Oslo. Her research interests include Islam in Europe, Islamic...
Javier Martinez-Torron
Javier Martinez-Torron is professor of law at Complutense University (Madrid) and holds a Ph.D. in canon law. He obtained his first chair at the University of Granada, where he founded and directed the Seminar of Comparative Law. Martínez-Torrón...
Nathan Oman
Nathan B. Oman is the Cabell Research Professor of Law at William and Mary Law School where he teaches course on contract law, economic analysis of law, jurisprudence, law and religion, and legal history. He served on the Articles Committee of the...
Mark Rienzi
Mark L. Rienzi is an assistant professor at The Catholic University of America, Columbus School of Law, where he teaches courses on constitutional law, religious liberty, torts, and evidence. His scholarly research and interests center on the...
Gerhard Robbers
Gerhard Robbers is the director of the Institute for European Constitutional Law and the director of the Institute for Legal Policy at the University of Trier. From 1981 to1984 he served as law clerk to the president of the German Federal...
Melissa Rogers
Melissa Rogers directs the Center for Religion and Public Affairs at Wake Forest University School of Divinity and serves as a nonresident senior fellow with Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution. In 2009 Rogers was appointed by...
Timothy Shah
Timothy Samuel Shah is Associate Director of the Religious Freedom Project at the Berkley Center For Religion, Peace, and World Affairs and Visiting Assistant Professor in the Government Department, Georgetown University. He is a political...
Rik Torfs
Rik Torfs has been a professor at Catholic University of Leuven since 1988 and was Dean of the Faculty of Canon Law from 1994 to 2003. Since 2000, he has also been a visiting professor at both the University of Strasbourg and the University of...