Freedom of (and from) Religion – FRIDAY EVENTS

When:
May 1, 2015 – May 2, 2015 all-day America/Los Angeles Timezone
2015-05-01T07:00:00+00:00
2015-05-02T07:00:00+00:00
Where:
UCEN Flying A Conference Room
University Center
University of California, Santa Barbara, Isla Vista, CA 93117
USA
Cost:
Free! Open to attend.
Contact:
Kathleen Moore

Full Conference Schedule (pdf)

9:15 – 9:30  Registration
Continental breakfast available

9:30 – 9:45  Welcome – Ann Taves, Virgil Cordano OFM Endowed Chair in Catholic Studies

9:45 – 10:45  Panel: The Authority to Define Religion and Liberty of Conscience
“’Enough of a Spiritual Leader?’: The Universal Life Church and Evolving Judicial Interpretations of Religions and Ministers”
Dusty Hoesly, Religious Studies Department, UCSB

“Exemptions and their Limits: The Case of Selective Conscientious Objection”
Ronit Y. Stahl, Danforth Center on Religion and Politics,
Washington University in St. Louis

Richard Hecht, commentator, Religious Studies Department, UCSB

11:00 – 12:30  Panel: RFRA Laws Post-Hobby Lobby v Burwell
“Helping Justice Ginsburg Close the Floodgates: A Proposal to Limit RFRA Exemptions”
Jeff Gottlieb, Department of Religion, Florida State University

“The Satanic Temple, Scott Walker, and Contraception: A Partial Account of Hobby Lobby’s Implications for State Law”
Kara Loewentheil, Columbia School of Law

“Religious Liberty Protections: Shield or Sword?”
Peter Montgomery and Elliot Mincberg,
Senior Fellows at People for the American Way Foundation

Chair/discussant: Kolby Knight, Religious Studies Department, UCSB

1:30 – 2:45 Panel: Comparative Approaches to Accommodation of Religion
“Public Accommodation of Religion”
Jessica Giles, Law Lecturer, Open University, U.K.,
Director of PILARS (Project on Interdisciplinary Law and Religion Studies)

“Misaccommodating Religion”
Leslie Griffin, William S. Boyd Professor of Law,
UNLV William S. Boyd School of Law

“A Critique of the Role of Luck in Deciding Legal Accommodation”
Muhammad Velji, Philosophy Department, McGill University

Chair/discussant: Ann Taves, Religious Studies Department, UCSB

2:55 – 4:15  Panel: Secularism and Liberal Legal Advocacy
“The Most Sacred of All Property: Corporations, Churches and Other Persons”
Finbarr Curtis, Religious Studies, Georgia Southern University

“Human Rights and Broken Cisterns: Evangelism, Instrumentalism, and Rights-Based Discourse in Christian Legal Activism”
Meadhbh McIvor, Department of Anthropology, London School of Economics

“The New Religious Freedom: Secular Fictions and Church Autonomy”
Matthew Scherer, School of Policy, Government and International Affairs,
George Mason University

Chair/discussant: Joseph Blankholm, Religion Department, Columbia University

4:30-5:45  Panel: Discourse and Legal Consciousness
“The Function of Theology in the Legal Discourse on Religion”
Joel Harrison, Religious Studies, Northwestern University

“The (Dis)Enchantment of Religious Freedom: Reconsidering Employment Division v Smith”
Kathryn Heard, UC Berkeley’s JD/PhD program in Jurisprudence and Social Policy

“The Corporately Produced Conscience: Emergency Contraception and the Politics of
Workplace Accommodation”
Isaac Weiner, Comparative Studies, The Ohio State University

Chair/discussant: Kathleen Moore, Religious Studies Department, UCSB