Theme: Islam & the West

April 24-26, 2009
all sessions are free and open to the public

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. 

Nearly four centuries later, matters of religion and state remain some of the most contested and controversial in our national and global politics.  To explore these issues, we are pleased to host our second biennial conference on religion and the state, to be held at the university April 24-26, 2009.  Our theme this year is “Religion and the State in Islam and the West,” a theme intended to include points of contact, cooperation, and conflict between Western and Islamic cultures as well as scholarship that addresses religion/state matters in either of these cultural areas individually.