Preserving Religious Cultural Heritage: Invoking Perspectives on Human Dignity and the Virtues of Religious Freedom

Brett G. Scharffs is Director of the International Center of Law and Religion Studies and Rex E. Lee Chair and Professor of Law at the J. Reuben Clark Law School, Brigham Young University. This post is based on a presentation given at the conference “Promoting Pluralism Through Religious Cultural Heritage Preservation” held at Exeter College, University of Oxford, 18 March 2026.

Religious cultural heritage preservation can be viewed as a human rights issue. But taking a purely human rights approach to religious cultural heritage preservation can be somewhat awkward since human rights are primarily recognized and protected for individuals. Preservation can also be viewed as a property right, but scratch the surface, and you realize it goes much deeper, in part because the property at issue resonates so deeply within communities. And so a rights-based approach may not be the end-all be-all when justifying preservation of religious sites.

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Religious Freedom and Indigenous Rights: Global Perspectives

The Klamath River, which is of great historical and spiritual significance for the Yurok Tribe, flows through Oregon and Northern California (Photo: Istock).

This series provides comparative interdisciplinary analysis of indigenous spirituality and the legal challenges involved in its protection on national and international levels. Drawing on a variety of cases from the Americas, South Africa, and Australia, contributors discuss specificities of indigenous spirituality and theology, power dynamics behind the discussion of indigenous rights, the sacredness of natural objects for indigenous groups, the insufficiency of protections for indigenous believers within existing religious-freedom frameworks, and legal steps needed to strengthen these protections. This series is based on presentations given at the ICLRS 32nd Annual International Law and Religion Symposium, 6–7 October 2025.

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Religious Law and Human Rights

Bahá’í Temple in Wilmette, Illinois / Istock

This series examines religious law as a human rights issue. Drawing on a variety of cases, contributors explain how Muslim and Jewish law and adjudication operate in the secular legal system of the United Kingdom and the mixed legal order of the State of Israel; how religion is being utilized to alienate religious minorities in Iran and Pakistan; and why traditional courts sometimes successfully replace secular legal institutions in serving justice in Kyrgyzstan. What unites these contributions is the authors’ intent to challenge and deepen readers’ basic knowledge about the interplay between religious law and human rights norms in different legal settings. This series is based on presentations given at the ICLRS 32nd Annual International Law and Religion Symposium, 7 October 2025.

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