|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Baylor > Church-State Studies > Conferences and Symposia
Conferences and Symposia2008 Hugh & Beverly Wamble LectureThe J. M. Dawson Institute of Church-State Studies will be presenting the Annual Hugh and Beverly Wamble Lecture on Wednesday, Nov. 5, 2008 at 4:00 p.m. in the Barfield Drawing Room. The lecture will be presented by Dr. Chris Seiple, President of the Institute for Global Engagement, entitled, "Religious Freedom: The Ultimate Counterterrorism Weapon?" Dr. Seiple will share his thoughts on how a re-envisioned understanding of religious freedom might counter extremism in Central, South, and East Asia.
Baylor University's Global Issues Lecture Series Presents Dr. Christopher MarshDr. Marsh will be delivering a university-wide lecture titled "The Descularization of Russia and China" on November 6 at 4:00 PM. The lecture is sponsored by the Center for International Education.
Brown Bag Lunch with Dr. Paul Christopher Manuel, PhD, of the Institute for Global EngagementSeptember 19, 2008Lecture title: "Roman Catholicism, Secularization and the Recovery of Traditional Communal Values" Dr. Manuel spoke on abortion in Portugal and took questions about his work with IGE. 
Church-State Institute Co-Sponsors Conferences in Russia on Religion and Educationby Eric MorrowThe J.M. Dawson Institute of Church-States Studies of Baylor University contributed to the convening of two conferences in Russia, March 31-April 6, which addressed the teaching of religion and education and the status and challenges of freedoms of the press and of conscience and the right of association. The first conference, entitled Religion and Education: Russian and International Experience, was held in Moscow, March 31-April 1 at the Russian State University for the Humanities. The meeting included government officials, scholars, church leaders, and international human rights observers from Asia, Europe, and North America. More information is available on their Website at: http://www.rsuh.ru/announcements.html?id=66249 The conference, co-sponsored by the Dawson Institute and the International Center for Law and Religion of Brigham Young University, provided an opportunity for officials and researchers to examine the current challenges in Russia on the teaching of religion, discuss models of religion in public education from throughout the world, and share current research in the areas of religious activity, morality and education, mass media, curriculum, and human rights. Dawson Institute director, Dr. Christopher Marsh, chaired a session on the status of religion and education in other countries. His presentation on China focused on recent survey work on the role of religion in Chinese society and its perceived relevance to education. Also participating was Baylor University graduate student, Eric Morrow, who presented a paper on education and religion in Greece. The second conference was held in Ekaterinburg, a large industrial city in Western Siberia. The three-day event addressed issues of freedom of speech and conscience and the right of association, also addressing the status of religious groups and religious teaching in public education. The meeting included opening sessions at the regional governor's offices, tours of religious sites, and group discussion on critical policy issues. In the opening session on Friday, April 4, Dr. Christopher Marsh presented a lecture (in Russian) on key issues of religious freedom and methodological ways of addressing the challenges facing Russian governmental and religious leaders. He followed presentations by the deputy governor and the leader of the regional legislature who described the progress made in the transition to a more open society and who affirmed their commitment to democracy and human rights. Both of these conferences were significant events in the ongoing dialog over the status of religion and democracy in Russia. One of the major challenges continues to be the recognition and rights of religious groups classified as "non-traditional" and the levels of participation of these groups in determining policy. The Constitution of Russia recognizes Eastern Orthodoxy, Judaism, Islam and Buddhism as "traditional" religions. EXCHANGE PROGRAM ON RELIGION AND MODERNITY TO CONTINUE IN MAY 2008 WITH BEIJING MEETINGWACO, TX – In an effort to educate participants about the global experience of religion and modernity, the J.M. Dawson Institute of Church-State Studies co-sponsored a program earlier this year which hosted a distinguished group of Chinese academics and policymakers. The goal of the first phase of the program was to open a dialogue in the spirit of intellectual cooperation and exchange with a focus on the challenges of desecularization in China and those posed by religion. The program began in Boston on January 25 with introductions by Peter Berger, director of the Institute on Culture, Religion and World Affairs (CURA) of Boston University, Robert Weller, Research Associate of CURA, and Christopher Marsh, Director of the Dawson and Keston Institutes of Baylor University. An afternoon session was hosted by Cole Durham, director of the International Center for Law and Religion at Brigham Young University, and highlighted some of the dangers posed by extreme religious belief and the lack of religious tolerance, two characteristics of early American society. The program was officially launched that evening with a welcome dinner hosted by professors Berger and Marsh. The program continued on Saturday with lectures on comparative models of church-state relations, with a focus on legal arrangements and the evolution of Western thinking on church and state. During a tour of Providence, Rhode Island, including the First Baptist Church in America founded by Roger Williams, Christopher Marsh introduced the participants to the topic of church and state in colonial America and the struggle for religious freedom. The next day this theme was continued with a service at the First Baptist Church of Boston, where the church historian gave the group a tour of the church and explained in detail some of the history of the Baptists in colonial Boston and their struggles against the Puritans. From Monday to Friday, each day included lectures that provided a survey of religion and modernity from different global perspectives. Peter Berger began the week with a full-day seminar devoted to the issue of religion and modernity generally. Tuesday through Thursday, the themes rotated from world Christianity, world Buddhism, world Islam, to religion in America, with guest lecturers Dana Robert, David Eckel, Ali Banuazizi, and Robert Wuthnow, respectively. On Friday, Christopher Marsh delivered a lecture on church and state in contemporary Russia followed by a final presentation on religion and politics in India by Tulasi Srinivas. On February 2 the program moved to New York City and began with a tour of the United Nations grounds led by Professor Norton Mezvinsky who then joined the group for lunch and led a discussion on the Arab-Israeli conflict. The day continued with a tour of the city, including visits to Ground Zero and the church where George Washington held his post-inaugural celebration. That evening the group traveled to Washington, DC where the program continued the next morning with visits to a vibrant Chinese Christian Church and several historical sites of the nation's capital. This first phase of the program concluded on February 4 with a pair of lectures at Georgetown University's Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs. The first panel was moderated by the center's director, Tom Banchoff, and featured a lecture by Steve Wayne on the role of religion in American elections. The second panel, moderated by Christopher Marsh, featured a lecture by Clyde Wilcox on religion and politics with an interesting discussion on how local governments in America deal with challenges of religious liberty. This session concluded with a full dialogue, with Georgetown faculty member Tom Farr (who served as the first Director of the State Department's Office of International Religious Freedom from 1999-2003) joining the discussion. The discussion debated the wisdom of exporting the American model to China and concluded that there was a great need for dialogue between our two nations. The second phase of the program, which is scheduled for Beijing in late May and early June, will broaden participation and dialogue on relating global experience to the Chinese reality. The program will include a lecture by Professor Berger on religion and modernity at Renmin University of China, followed by a day of dialogue with members of China's State Administration for Religious Affairs at their headquarters in Hohai. Finally, the program will conclude with a conference, co-sponsored by Brigham Young's International Center for Law and Religion and Baylor's Dawson Institute, on the theme of religion and social harmony. The conference will be held at the Institute of Religious Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, where Peter Berger, Christopher Marsh, and Cole Durham will speak. 
Roger Williams University Conference on Church/State RelationsDates: June 3-6, 2007 Location: Roger Williams Univesity, Bristol, RI 02809 Call for proposals deadline: January 31, 2007 Call for Papers: Roger Williams University Conference on Church/State Relations: Roger Williams University is named after the founder of the colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, the first established with guarantees of separation of church and state. We seek papers for a conference at the university to be held June 3-6, 2007 on the topic of church-state relations. Researchers are invited to submit from any and all academic fields, especially, though not exclusively, from history, political science, literature and religious studies. Paper proposals can cover all time periods, ancient through contemporary, and can reflect all geographic areas. Please send a 250 word proposal and a one page CV to: Joshua Stein Dept of History, Roger Williams University Bristol, RI 02809 or electronically to jstein@rwu.edu by January 31, 2007. Responses will be mailed out by March 23, 2007. |
|
|||
 |
||||||
|
|
||
|
Copyright © Baylor® University. All rights reserved. Trademark/DMCA information. Privacy statement. Baylor University Waco, Texas 76798 1-800-BAYLOR-U |
||