Engaging the "New Critics" of Religious Freedom: Tim Shah Presents New Paper

RFI Senior Advisor Timothy Shah delivered a paper entitled, “Engaging the ‘New Critics’ of Religious Freedom,” at the Fourth International Consortium for Law and Religion Studies Conference. Shah’s paper was part of a discussion on Freedom of Religion and International Law.

Shah’s paper addresses recent literature that brings charges that religious freedom is a Western cultural construct being imposed on foreign cultures.

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“[Religious freedom] does not rest upon western liberal notions of individual autonomy or any one theology, philosophy, ideology, or political doctrine. Religious freedom is rather a human claim. It is conceptually modest yet morally critical, rooted in every human being’s simple yearning to explore and embrace authentic answers to the most ultimate questions, free from coercive interference by others.”

— Tim Shah, Engaging the “New Critics” of Religious Freedom: A Review Essay

The fourth ICLARS conference brought together more than 150 experts from 37 countries to discuss the topic of “Freedom of/for/from/within Religion: Differing Dimensions of a Common Right?”, at St. Hugh’s College, Oxford University, Oxford, United Kingdom, on Sept. 9, 2016.

The International Consortium for Law and Religion Studies is an international network of scholars and experts in law and religion begun in 2007 with Professor Silvio Ferrari of the University of Milan as President. The purpose of ICLARS is to provide a forum for exchange of information, data, and opinions among members — at present from more than 40 countries — which can be made available to the broader scientific community.

Learn more about ICLARS and the Conference: ICLARS IV: “Freedom of/for/from/within Religion: Differing Dimensions of a Common Right?”

Read: Timothy Shah and Daniel Philpott (2016): Engaging the “New Critics” of Religious Freedom

Tim Shah, Senior Advisor and South and Southeast Asia Action Team Director

Brett Scharffs, Francis R. Kirkham Professor of Law and Director,
International Center for Law and Religion Studies, J. Reuben Clark Law
School, Brigham Young University

Tim Shah, Senior Advisor, (center) and co-panelists respond to audience questions

W. Cole Durham, Jr., outgoing President, International Consortium for Law and Religion Studies; Susa Young Gates Professor of Law and Founding Director, International Center for Law and Religion Studies, Brigham Young University

Newly installed officers of ICLARS:

Ana María Célis Brunet, Catholic University, Chile, South America; President

STEERING COMMITTEE:

Peter Coertzen, University of Stellenbosch, South Africa, Africa; Alessandro Ferrari, University of Insubria, Italy, Europe; Mark Hill, Cardiff University, United Kingdom, Europe; Tahir Mahmood, Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, Amity University, India, Asia; Asher Maoz, Peres Academic Center School of Law, Israel, Asia; Javier Martínez-Torrón, Complutense University, Spain, Europe; Juan Navarro Floria, Catholic University, Argentina, South America; Brett Scharffs, Brigham Young University Law School, USA, North America