Virginia: Third ICLARS Conference “Religion, Democracy, and Equality” (21-23 agosto 2013)

The ICLARS Steering Committee is pleased to announce that the Third ICLARS Conference will be held in Virginia, August 21-23, 2013.
The general conference theme will be “Religion, Democracy, and Equality.”
Recommended subthemes include: (1) Religious pluralism and treatment of religious minorities; (2) Religion and anti-discrimination norms; (3) Hate speech, hate crimes, and religious minorities; and (4) Religion and gender issues.
The plan is to stay in Richmond, at a location near where the language was first crafted that ultimately became the free exercise clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.The plan is to spend one day at the University of Virginia, and one day at the William and Mary Law School.The first is located in Charlottesville, where much of the Jeffersonian heritage is in evidence (including Jefferson’s famous serpentine wall, which some have cited with wry humor as the true image of Jefferson’s even more famous “wall of separation” metaphor for the appropriate relationship of religion and state. The second is located in Williamsburg, another major locus of historic church-state sites in early America.

While a number of speakers will be commissioned, there will be a call for papers, including a call for papers for younger scholars who will have a special opportunity to give presentations on August 21.
More details will be forthcoming in the near future.
In the meantime, we encourage all ICLARS members to hold the date and make arrangements to attend.