Thursday, April 23, 2009
5:30 pm
Civil Discourse Address: Christopher Hitchens(Campus Recreation Center Gymnasium)
Free and open to the public, with a ticket. Reserve tickets by calling (401) 254-3067.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Check-In and On-Site Registration: 8:00am – 9:00am (Outside School of Law, Room 283)
Session 1: 9:00am - 10:45am (School of Law, Room 283)
Church and State in Colonial British America and the Early National United States
- Andrew R. Murphy, Rutgers University, “William Penn and Roger Williams: Parallel Lives”
- James S. Kabala, Roger Williams University, “‘Must We Swear the Turk on the Koran?’: Images of Islam and Non-Western Religions in Early Republic Religious Debates”
- Paul Finkelman, Albany Law School, “Religious Freedom In Theory and Practice: Rhode Island and New Netherlands”
Coffee Break (School of Law, Bay View Room)
Session 2: 11:00am – 12:45pm (School of Law, Room 283)
Religion and Public Life: Christian, Muslim, and Jewish Cases
- Ruth Schilling, Humboldt University of Berlin, “Political Power and Confessional Symbols: Public Rituals as Battlegrounds for Political and Ecclesiastical Representation in Early Modern City Republics”
- Itai Sneh, John Jay College CUNY, “Umah in the Banlieux: Religion and State in France”
- Etta Bick, Ariel University Center (Israel), “The Tal Law: New Options of National and Civic Service in the Ultra-Orthodox Community?”
Lunch for registered participants: 1:00pm – 2:00pm (School of Law, Bay View Room)
Session 3: 2:00pm – 3:45pm (School of Law, Room 283)
Religion and the Family in Law and Practice
- Shawn Francis Peters, University of Wisconsin, “‘The Horriblest Thing I Ever Saw’: Reflections on the State, Faith Healing, and Children”
- Bonita Cade, Roger Williams University, “”Islamic Shariah in ‘Divorce Court’: A Exploration of the Current Issues between the Religious Tribunal and Civil Court”
- Sean Scott, Ouachita Baptist University, “The Baptism of Miss Armstrong: Parental Authority, Ministerial Duty, and the Religious Liberty of a Minor in 1840s Pennsylvania”
Coffee Break (School of Law, Bay View Room)
Session 4: 4:00pm – 5:45pm (School of Law, Room 283)
Theorizing Diversity, Secularism, and Democracy
- Kevin Zdiara, Max Weber Center (Erfurt, Germany), “God’s Place in a Democracy: Horace M. Kallen on Religion and Secularism”
- Finbarr Curtis, Bucknell University, “Bleeding Heart Secularism: A Romantic Reassessment of the Relationship between Liberalism and Secularity in Recent Postcolonial Theory”
- Zachary Reed White, Columbia University, “The ‘Armoury of Reason’: Spinozan Toleration and Its Contemporary Echoes”
6:00pm – 7:00pm (School of Law, Bay View Room)
Dinner for registered participants
7:00pm – 8:00pm (School of Law, Room 283)
Welcoming Remarks, Roy J. Nirschel, Ph.D.
President, Roger Williams University
Keynote Address: “Who’s Afraid of American Religion?”
- Alan Wolfe, Professor of Political Science
Director of the Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life
Boston College
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Session 5: 9:00am - 10:45am (School of Law, Room 283)
Religion, Media, and Politics
- Dilek Kaya Mutlu, Bilkent University, “Between Secularism and Islam: The Censorship of Religious Elements in Turkish Films of the 1960s”
- Andrea L. Stanton, New York University, “Religion on the Radio: Managing Religious Broadcasts in Mandate Palestine”
- Amaryllis Logotheti, Ecole Des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, “Religious Anticommunism in Greece and Turkey at the Beginning of the Cold War: The Magazines Zoe and Büyük Doğu”
Coffee Break (School of Law, Bay View Room)
Session 6: 11:00am – 12:45pm (School of Law, Room 283)
Religion in Recent US Politics
- Lawrence J. McAndrews, St. Norbert’s College, “Withdrawal Symptoms: Nixon, Catholics, and Vietnam”
- Angela Lahr, Westminster College, Engaging the Community, the Nation, and the World: Mennonite Grassroots Politicking, 1960-1975
- Paul Bender, Roger Williams University, “Losing Faith in America”
Lunch for registered participants: 1:00pm – 2:00pm (School of Law, Bay View Room)
Session 7: 2:00pm – 3:45pm (School of Law, Room 283)
Religion and International Relations
- J. Daryl Charles, Union University, “‘A Common Word’ and ‘Loving God and Neighbor Together’: Assessing Religion and Statecraft through Two Recent Documents between Muslim and Christian Spokespersons”
- Adrian Ciani, University of Western Ontario, "Marching in Step?: The Vatican, American Catholics, and Zionism, 1897-1945"
- Aikande Kwayu, University of Nottingham, “British Foreign Policy Reaction Towards Islam”
Coffee Break (School of Law, Bay View Room)
Session 8: 4:00pm – 5:45pm (School of Law, Room 283)
Theorizing Islam, Modernity, Sovereignty, and Globalization
- Riham Bahi, Bryant University/Cairo University, “Transnational Discourses of Islamic Community”
- Alireza Shomali, Wheaton College, “The Absolute Sovereignty of the Jurist: A Study of Political Mysticism in Iran.”
- Nader Hashemi, University of Denver, “Where Bernard Lewis Went Wrong: Rethinking Secularism across the Islam-West Divide”
6:00pm – 7:00pm (School of Law, Bay View Room)
Dinner for registered participants
7:00pm – 8:00pm (School of Law, Room 283)
Keynote Address: “Islam and the State: Theocracy or Democracy?”
- John Esposito, University Professor, Professor of Religion and International Affairs and of Islamic Studies
Founding Director of the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding
Georgetown University
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Session 9: 9:00am – 11:45am (School of Law, Room 283)
Religion and Politics in the Contemporary Islamic World: Comparative Perspectives
- Monsuru Kasali, The University of Ibadan, “Trapped Within the Web of Opposing Civilizations: The Dilemma of Almajirai in Northern Nigeria”
- William Miles, Northeastern University, “Religion and Politics in Muslim West Africa and the Middle East: A Comparative Perspective”
- Radwan Ziadeh, Harvard University, “The Role of Religion in Contemporary Arab State Politics: Syria as an Example”
Lunch for registered participants 12:00pm – 1:00pm (School of Law, Bay View Room)