Posted on by Mark Movsesian

Liveblogging Forum 2000: Religion, Ethics, and Law

This morning, I participated in Forum 2000’s second law-and-religion panel, “Religion, Ethics, and Law.” The panel (below) addressed the growing “divorce” between law and moral principles and the influence of secularization on law and ethics. The panel was chaired by Jiří Pehe, Director of NYU-Prague. Tomáš Halík, a sociologist and President of the Czech Christian Academy, opened the panel by discussing the different concepts of law in Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. The first two religions, Halík said, are essentially about law, unlike Christianity, which is essentially about faith; the first two emphasize orthopraxy, while Christianity emphasizes orthodoxy. He noted that Western law has been influenced both by Christian roots and by the secularizing effect of the Enlightenment, which was itself “the unwanted child of Christianity.” I followed with a discussion of the distinction between moral and legal advice in American lawyers’ ethics. Over time, I showed, American legal ethics have minimized the lawyer’s role as moral counselor; although 100 years ago a lawyer had a duty to impress upon his client the need for “strict compliance” with “moral law,” nowadays a lawyer’s duty is to provide legal, not moral advice. I argued that the change could be understood, in part, as an effect of secularization. William Cook, Professor of History and Religion at SUNY, discussed Tocqueville’s insights into private associations and their role in promoting democracy.  Günther Virt, Professor of Theology at the University of Vienna, spoke about translating faith commitments into public policy arguments, specifically, his experience working on bioethics committees in the Council of Europe and the European Union. (A great line: the increasing number of ethics committees in the West today is evidence of an ethical crisis). He also discussed human rights; although human rights can be justified intellectually without religion, he argued, religion provides the necessary motivation for honoring human rights in particular circumstances. Vartan Gregorian, President of the Carnegie Corporation, ended the panel with a discussion of the dialectic between faith and reason in all three Abrahamic religions. He argued that the key concept in all these religions is not conflict, but synthesis, between faith and reason. – MLM

*UPDATE: You can now watch the video from the “Religion, Ethics and Law” Panel here. -ARH[vodpod id=Video.15541931&w=425&h=350&fv=bufferlength%3D5%26amp%3Brepeat%3Dalways%26amp%3Bstretching%3Duniform%26amp%3Bcontrolbar.position%3Dover%26amp%3Bcontrolbar.idlehide%3Dtrue%26amp%3Bdock%3Dfalse%26amp%3Bicons%3Dtrue%26amp%3Bautostart%3Dfalse%26amp%3Bimage%3D%2Fimg%2Flayout%2F_default3.jpg%26amp%3Bstreamer%3Drtmp%3A%2F%2Fbiztube.cz%3A443%2Fforum2000%26amp%3Bfile%3Dforum2000-forumhall-20111011-1.f4v]

Posted on by Mark Movsesian

Liveblogging Forum 2000: Why Are You Interested in Law and Religion?

The first time, you don’t notice. The second time, you start to pay attention. By the third time, you can’t help but see a pattern. Three times here at the Forum 2000 Conference, other participants – not, I hasten to say, the other participants on my panels – have asked me, very politely and sincerely, “Why are you interested in law and religion?” The tone of the question is curiosity more than anything else: whatever would make you devote your time to this topic? Now, you might think, this is normal chit-chat among academics at conferences, like “where do you teach?” I have to say, however, that when I’ve attended past conferences in Europe to speak about private international law, no one asked me a similar question. And I’ve never been asked the question in American academic settings. No: religion, here, seems different. There has to be a particular explanation, a reason beyond ordinary academic interest, why someone would make this the subject of his work. It reminded me of something the French sociologist Danièle Hervieu-Léger once wrote.  If you study religion in France, she observed, everyone immediately asks you if you’re religious – the implication being, if you invest so much time in the subject, you must have a personal interest. No offense taken, of course. It’s a legitimate question, and all the more credit to the Forum 2000 organizers for making law and religion a theme for the conference. But the question does stand out. Perhaps the question reflects the fact that secularism is the default option for many European intellectuals. – MLM

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Liveblogging Forum 2000: Religion and Human Rights

Forum 2000‘s  first law-and-religion panel, “Religious Law and Human Rights,” took place this afternoon, chaired by Prince El Hassan bin Talal of Jordan.  Prince Hassan opened the panel by speaking of the need for a real “bill of rights” for the “West Asian/North African” region, one that includes the right to be free from religious discrimination.  Michael Melchior, the Chief Rabbi of Norway, followed.  He noted the size of the audience that had gathered to hear the panel and said it reflected a new interest among intellectuals and policymakers in religion as a social phenomenon.  “God,” he said, “has returned to history.”  All religions, he continued – speaking of the Abrahamic faiths – have both totalitarian and dialectical impulses; we need to “minimalize the former and maximalize the latter,” and predicted that religious and political leaders have only a limited window of opportunity to accomplish this.  Journalist Shahira Amin from Egypt spoke about her doubts that the Arab Spring will usher in a secular society.  Although Egypt is historically a moderate society, she said, present-day Egyptian Islam is becoming radicalized as a result of Wahhabi influence.  Discrimination against Coptic Christians is a problem. She noted, though, that the Muslim Brotherhood has been speaking in more moderate terms since the revolution, perhaps in an attempt to appear politically responsible.  Tibetan Buddhist scholar Geshe Tenzin Dhargye spoke of the two key ethical principles in Buddhism, the laws of causation (karma) and non-harming behavior, and how they would inform a Buddhist approach to law and society.  In the final presentation, Bishop Václav Malý of the Catholic Archdiocese of Prague argued that Christianity provided the philosophical roots for human rights, “at least in Europe.”  Although people have now forgotten those roots, as a historical matter it was the Christian concept of Imago Dei that implied human dignity and freedom, including freedom of conscience and religion. He ended by saying that the Catholic Church in the Czech Republic does not favor a confessional state, but a pluralist state in which people with different religious and philosophical commitments, including non-religious commitments, can peacefully co-exist.  – MLM

For those not fortunate to be liveblogging from Prague, a live feed to Forum 2000 can be found here. – ARH

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Liveblogging Forum 2000: Religion in Prague

I’m writing this week from Prague, where I’m participating in the Forum 2000 Conference, convened annually by Vaclav Havel.  This year’s theme is “Democracy and the Rule of Law.”  The conference begins today, but I had the occasion this weekend to chat with Petr Mucha, the Project Coordinator for Forum 2000’s Interfaith Dialogue, which brings together scholars and religious leaders from around the world.

Mucha was kind enough to give me his analysis of religion in the Czech Republic today.  He confirmed the conventional wisdom that the Czech Republic is one of the most secular places in Europe (given how secular Europe is, that’s saying something).  I asked why that is so.  Mucha said that the story is a complicated one, but, as is so often the case, it has largely to do with history.  Centuries of religious warfare on Czech soil – Prague, history buffs will recall, was the site of the famous defenestration (below) that started the Thirty Years War, which in turn led to the Westphalian state system and the principle of cuius regio, eius religio –left a distinct distrust of institutional religion.  As a result of the war, Protestantism was more or less defeated in the Czech lands; the Catholic Church became identified with the Hapsburg Empire that suppressed Czech nationalism.   During the Communist period, religion never became a rallying point against the state (though dissident priests were involved in the resistance), a situation that differs dramatically from neighboring Poland, where the Catholic Church formed a strong element of national identity.

Mucha believes that is it antipathy for organized religion, not spirituality as such, that characterizes the view of religion in Czech society today.  Indeed, according to him, it’s not even correct to characterize the situation in terms of antipathy.  Most Czechs are simply indifferent about religion; they don’t think about it much one way or the other.  – MLM

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Movsesian to Participate in Next Week’s Forum 2000 Conference

CLR Director Professor Mark L. Movsesian will participate in the fifteenth annual Forum 2000 Conference, to be held from October 9-11, 2011, in Prague. Convened under the auspices of Vaclav Havel, the conference brings together global leaders from politics, academia, religion, business and civil society. This year’s theme is “Democracy and the Rule of Law.” Confirmed speakers include Havel, Joseph Stiglitz, Elie Wiesel, Hernando de Soto, Vartan Gregorian and Mikheil Saakashvili. Professor Movsesian will participate in two panels, “Religion, Ethics and Law,” and “Religious and Secular Law.” The program is here.

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Politics, Taxes, and the Pulpit (Oct. 12, 2011)

Professor Nina Crimm will discuss her book, Politics, Taxes, and the Pulpit: Provocative First Amendment Conflicts (Oxford 2011) (with Laurence Winer), at a conference at the University of Kentucky Law School on October 12. For  information, please click here.

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“Islamophobia, the Media and Echoes of 9/11” (Sept. 7, 2011)

Lawrence Joseph will participate in an upcoming discussion at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism entitled Islamophobia, the Media and Echoes of 9/11. The event is being hosted by Granta magazine in association with South Asian Journalists Association and Voice of Witness, and will explore Islamophobia, media rhetoric and how society remembers the events of September 11, 2001. The discussion will take place on September 7, 2011, at 5 p.m.

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Movsesian Quoted in “The Tablet”

Mark L. Movsesian was recently quoted in an article in the British Catholic weekly, The Tablet, in connection with his presentation at the Oasis Foundation Conference in June. The article, entitled Hopes and Hazards of the Arab Spring, explores the prospects of Christian minorities in the new political landscape of the Middle East.

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Annual Law and Religion Roundtable (June 23-24, 2011)

Marc O. DeGirolami participated in the Annual Law and Religion Roundtable (ALRR) hosted by Northwestern University School of Law in Chicago, IL. The ALRR provides a forum for scholars of religious freedom to share cutting-edge works and engage in discipline-shaping conversations. DeGirolami presented a chapter of his forthcoming book: Tragedy and History: The Quality of Religious Liberty. 

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Oasis Foundation International Meeting (June 20-22, 2011)

Mark L. Movsesian participated in a conference hosted by the Oasis Foundation in Venice, Italy, entitled “Where is the Middle East Heading?”  The conference explored the future of Christian minorities in the Muslim countries of Northern Africa and the Middle East. Movsesian presented his paper: Ottoman Secularization in the Nineteenth Century: The Tanzimat and Christian Minorities.