Mattone Center to Host ICLARS Regional Conference This Weekend

This weekend at St. John’s Law, the Mattone Center will host a regional conference of the International Consortium for Law and Religion Studies (ICLARS), “Education, Religious Freedom, and State Neutrality.” The conference will gather scholars and judges from Europe and the United States. Papers from the conference will appear eventually here on the blog. From the start, the Mattone Center has had a special interest in comparative law and religion, and we’re delighted to continue the tradition in this way

I’ve attached an abbreviated conference program below.

Call for Papers: Seton Hall University School of Law

The Program on Faith, Values, and the Rule of Law (FVRoL) at Seton Hall University School of Law is requesting submissions for its inaugural academic conference to occur on February 4-5 2026 at the school’s Newark, New Jersey campus.

  • Paper Topic: The conference is seeking papers that explore the relationship between faith, values, and the rule of law, drawing on religious, theological, philosophical, and historical perspectives to address contemporary threats such as nationalism, authoritarianism, and disinformation. Submissions should offer both conceptual insights and, where possible, practical proposals for how religious and philosophical traditions can contribute to strengthening justice, dignity, and peace in a pluralistic world.
  • Paper Proposals: The deadline for paper abstracts is November 1, 2025. 
  • Paper Submission: There is no publication requirement, although FVRoL may seek a suitable venue for publication of selected papers.
  • Contact: To submit an abstract for consideration, please use this form. If you have any questions, please contact Brett Canaval, Administrative Director of the Program on Faith, Values, and the Rule of Law, at brett.canaval@shu.edu.

ICLARS Webinar Tomorrow

Tomorrow, ICLARS will host a webinar on comparative approaches to law and religion, hosted by scholar Renee Barker (University of Western Australia). Details below:

Conference in Messina on Minority Religious Groups

The summer conference season is underway! I’m looking forward to participating later this month (online) in a very interesting conference organized by Professor Adelaide Madera at the University deli Studio di Messina, “Religious Freedom of Minority Groups in Times of Ongoing Crisis.” I’ll be speaking on one of the largest “religious” groups in the US, the Nones. Details about the conference are at the announcement below:

In Search of Common Ground: An Upcoming Online Symposium

I look forward to participating, along with many friends and colleagues, in what promises to be a fascinating symposium on religion, secularism, and liberalism organized by Steven Heyman and Kathleen Brady and hosted by the Chicago-Kent Law Review: “In Search of Common Ground: Religion and Secularism in a Liberal Democratic Society.” The online symposium, scheduled for February 21, will be open to the public; the link is below. It’s a fabulous lineup of scholars and I’m very grateful to be among them:

Over the past several decades, America’s religious diversity has continued to grow rapidly, as have the percentages of Americans who either are not religious or are not affiliated with a specific religious group or denomination. At the same time, America’s deepening cultural and political divisions have often followed these expanding religious fault lines. These developments have raised new challenges for defining the relationship between law, religion, and secularism under the Religion Clauses of the First Amendment and beyond. At the Chicago-Kent Law Review’s Symposium, leading law-and-religion scholars who represent a broad spectrum of views will explore a range of doctrinal issues – such as free exercise exemptions, government expression and funding, and the meaning of religion under the First Amendment – and will discuss how people who hold very different worldviews can live together in contemporary society.

For more information, check the link above. Thanks!

Movsesian at ICLARS Next Month

I’m greatly looking forward to participating in next month’s ICLARS conference at Notre Dame Law School. I’ll be on a panel, “Status, Conduct, and Message,” along with Steven Collis of the University of Texas and Amy Sepinwall of the University of Pennsylvania. We’ll try to make sense of some of the Court’s recent religious freedom cases. Details in the conference program, below. Friends of the Mattone Center, please stop by and say hello!

Call for Papers: Australian Journal of Law & Religion

Our friends at the Australian Journal of Law and Religion have announced a call for papers for their 2024 General Issue, which will include a symposium on the rise of the Nones. Details in the link below:

Barclay and DeGirolami at St. John’s Next Week

I’m delighted to announce that next week the Center will welcome Stephanie Barclay (Notre Dame), and welcome back Marc DeGirolami (Catholic University), for a discussion of the recent school prayer case, Kennedy v. Bremerton School District (2022). Details about the event, which the Center will co-host with the St. John’s Journal of Catholic Legal Studies, are here (registration is required). Friends of the Center, drop by and say hello!

Film Screening at Princeton Next Month

Next month at Princeton University, I’ll be participating in a film screening and panel discussion on religious liberty in the United States, “Free Exercise: America’s Story of Religious Liberty.” The event is sponsored by Princeton’s James Madison Program, where I spent a wonderful semester a few years ago. Details are available here. Friends of the Forum in the area, stop by and say hello!

Online Symposium: RFRA at 30 (Oct. 19, 2023)

I’m greatly looking forward to participating in an upcoming online symposium, “The Religious Freedom Restoration Act at 30,” sponsored by Emory’s Center for the Study of Law and Religion. I’ll present a paper on how the rise of the Nones will put pressure on the concept of religious exemptions. Details here. Register to listen in!