In Search of Common Ground: Religion and Secularism in a Liberal Democratic Society

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2025 Chicago-Kent Law Review Online Live Symposium

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Symposium Editors

Steven J. Heyman, Chicago-Kent College of Law
Kathleen A. Brady, Emory University

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Chicago-Kent College of Law
February 21, 2025
Contact: Francesca Sikora | cklawreview.me@kentlaw.iit.edu

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.

The Symposium is free.

Please register here: https://forms.office.com/r/Cq7jXpdgpf

You may self-apply for CLE credit in a state of your choice; however, please note that approval is not guaranteed.

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Schedule Overview

Friday February 21, 2024

More Details to Follow

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Presenters

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Stephanie H. Barclay, Professor of Law and Faculty Co-Director of the Georgetown Center for the Constitution, Georgetown University Law Center. 

Alan Brownstein, Professor of Law Emeritus, University of California Davis School of Law.

Thomas C. Berg, James L. Oberstar Professor of Law and Public Policy, University of St. Thomas School of Law. 

Kathleen A. Brady, Senior Fellow and McDonald Distinguished Fellow, Center for the Study of Law and Religion, Emory University.

Angela Carmella, Professor of Law, Seton Hall University School of Law.

Richard W. Garnett, Paul J. Schierl/Fort Howard Corp. Professor of Law; Concurrent Professor of Political Science; and Director, Program on Church, State & Society, University of Notre Dame Law School.

Steven J. Heyman, Professor of Law, Chicago-Kent College of Law, Illinois Tech.

Ira C. Lupu, F. Elwood and Eleanor Davis Professor Emeritus of Law, George Washington University School of Law, and Robert W. Tuttle, David R. and Sherry Kirschner Berz Research Professor of Law and Religion, George Washington University School of Law.

Andrew M. Koppelman, John Paul Stevens Professor of Law, Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law.

Mark L. Movsesian, Frederick A. Whitney Professor of Contract Law and Director, Mattone Center for Law and Religion.

Steven D. Smith, Warren Distinguished Professor of Law; Co-Executive Director, Institute for Law & Religion; and Co-Executive Director, Institute for Law & Philosophy, University of San Diego Law School.

Nelson Tebbe, Jane M.G. Foster Professor of Law, Cornell Law School. 

Laura S. Underkuffler, J. DuPratt White Professor of Law, Cornell Law School.

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