2010 Religious Legal Theory Conference:
Religion in Law, Law in Religion
November 5, 2010
St. John’s School of Law
8000 Utopia Parkway
Queens, New York
Now in its second year, this conference, which is shared among
different law schools, will address a variety of topics in law and
religion. This year’s theme encompasses traditional religion/state
questions as well as the concept of law in different religious
traditions. Plenary speakers include Professor Steven H. Shiffrin
of Cornell Law School and Professor Steven D. Smith of the
University of San Diego School of Law. Papers will appear in the St. John’s Law
Review.
Program
Friday, November 5, 2010
8:30-9:00 a.m.
Registration/Breakfast
9-9:15 a.m.
Welcome
9:15-10:00 a.m.
Plenary Session I
Steven Smith, University of San Diego Law School, Religion,
Standing, and the Soft Constitution
10-10:15 a.m.
Break
10:15-11:45 a.m.
Concurrent Sessions I
A. Varieties of Religious Legal
Theory (Moderator: Mark Movsesian, St. John’s School of
Law)
- Zachary Calo, Valparaiso University School of Law, Law and
the Secular
- Paul Horwitz, University of Alabama School of Law,
Constitutional Agnosticism
- Samuel Levine, Touro College Law Center, A Preliminary
Examination of Religious Legal Theory as a Movement
- David Opderbeck, Seton Hall Law School, Law and the
Eschatology of Hope
B. Religious Conceptions of Law
and Loyalty (Moderator: Keith Sharfman, St. John’s School of
Law)
- Perry Dane, Rutgers School of Law-Camden, The Challenge of
Change in Jewish Law
- Haider Hamoudi, University of Pittsburgh School of Law,
Juristic and State Institutions: The Paradox of Iraq
- Chaim Saiman, Villanova Law School, Halakhah: The Rabbinic
Idea of Law
- Anna Su, Harvard Law School, To Try a Man’s Soul: Loyalty
in Law and Religion
C. American Law and Religion:
Selected Topics (Moderator: Marc DeGirolami, St. John’s
School of Law)
- Richard Esenberg, Marquette University Law School, The
Unbearable Lightness of Endorsement
- Michael Helfand, Pepperdine University School of Law,
Fighting for the Debtor’s Soul: Church Autonomy and Religious
Arbitration
- John Inazu, Duke University School of Law, Religious Group
Autonomy and the Right of Assembly
- Nelson Tebbe, Brooklyn Law School, Nonbelievers
11:45 a.m.- 1:00 p.m.
Lunch
1:00-1:45 p.m.
Plenary Session II
Steven Shiffrin, Cornell University Law School, Theology and
Our Constitution
1:45-2:00 p.m.
Break
2:00-3:30 p.m.
Concurrent Session II
A. Biblical Law
(Moderator: Nina Crimm, St. John’s Law School)
- Nathan Chapman, Stanford Law School, Original Distrust:
Reading Genesis 3 & 4 as a State of Nature
- Robert Cochran, Pepperdine University School of Law, Jesus
and the Civil Law
- Joel Nichols, University of St. Thomas School of Law, Civil
Obedience and Disobedience in the New Testament
B. Comparative Law and
Religion (Moderator: Brett Scharffs, BYU School of Law)
- Keisuke Abe, Seikei University, Separation of Church and
State in Japan: What Happened to the Conservative Supreme
Court?
- Matthew Harrington, University of Montreal – Faculty of Law,
The Religion Guarantees in the Canadian Context
- Simeon Ilesanmi, Wake Forest University, Disestablishment
Without Impartiality: An Examination of the Religion Clause in the
Nigerian Constitution
- Andrea Pin, University of Padua, (European) Stars or
(American) Stripes: Are the European Court of Human Rights’
Neutrality and the Supreme Court’s Wall of Separation One and the
Same?
- Rosemary Salomone, St. John’s Law School, Behind the Veil:
Religion, Ethnicity, and Democratic Schooling in France and the
United States
C. Duties of Judges, Lawmakers and
Citizens (Moderator: Margaret Turano, St. John’s Law
School)
- Ian Bartrum, Drake Law School, Voting for Nonpublic
Reasons: Conscience and Political Evolution
- Rene Reyes, Harvard Law School, The Supreme Court’s
Catholic Majority: Doctrine, Discretion, and Judicial
Decision-Making
- Robin Wilson, Washington and Lee Law School, Privatizing
Family Law in the Name of Religion
- Melissa Yates, Rutgers University-Camden, Obligations to
Raise Good Citizens
3:30 p.m.
Reception
Registration
Please register for the conference through our
online registration form.
More Information
For more information on the 2010 Religious Legal Theory Conference,
please contact Maureen Mulligan, Associate Director of Special
Events at St. John's School of Law, at mulligam@stjohns.edu.