Course Description:
This course considers the relationship between law and religion from a comparative and international perspective, with particular attention given to the topic of religious freedom. The first part of the course will introduce the students to the concepts of religious freedom from legal, philosophical, historical and theological perspectives. The course next addresses the treatment of religion in international law and in various regional and supranational settings such as the United Nations, the European Court of Human Rights and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. This will be followed by the discussion on the comparative approaches to religious freedom, primarily (though not exclusively) comparing constitutional cases in Western Europe, South Africa, and some majority Muslim states. At the end of this course, students will have learned how to understand and critically analyze religious freedom issues in different jurisdictions and will have learned how to do research on comparative and international religious freedom issues.
