Webinar: Ukraine’s Law Banning the Russian Orthodox Church and Affiliated Organizations: Politics, Law, and Theology

The webinar was hosted by the ICLRS Blog “Talk About: Law and Religion” and Orthodox Christianity Studies Center—Fordham University on October 29, 2024. Webinar panelists discussed political, legal, social, and theological aspects of Ukraine’s recent law No 3894 banning the Russian Orthodox Church and religious organizations affiliated with the ROC.

(more…)

Continue Reading Webinar: Ukraine’s Law Banning the Russian Orthodox Church and Affiliated Organizations: Politics, Law, and Theology

Institutions as Agents of Persecution and Inclusion of Minority Faiths

Brett G. Scharffs is Rex E. Lee chair and professor of law at J. Reuben Clark Law School, Brigham Young University, and is director of the Law School’s International Center for Law and Religion Studies. The following post is based on his remarks at the AMAR Windsor Dialogue conference held at Cumberland Lodge, Windsor, England, 24–25 June 2024. It was published as part of the Talk About blog feature “Marking the 10th Anniversary of the Yazidi Genocide.”

My engagement with the AMAR International Charitable Foundation began as a participant in the 2018 Windsor Dialogue conference held in Baghdad, where I and others discussed the experience of members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and their journey “from persecution to inclusion.”[1] The hope was that the Latter-day Saints’ journey might have salience, relevance, and resonance with the Yazidi community. I later discussed the Latter-day Saints’ journey at a 2022 Notre Dame University Symposium, “Re-Thinking the Law to Protect Religious Minorities,” and published a related essay in Notre Dame Law Review Reflection.

(more…)

Continue Reading Institutions as Agents of Persecution and Inclusion of Minority Faiths

Marking the 10th Anniversary of the Yazidi Genocide

On 3 August 2014, the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Daesh) invaded the Sinjar region of Iraq, instigating genocide against the Yazidi people. ISIL/Daesh killed more than 3000 Yazidis and abducted more than 6800, mostly women and girls. Ten years later, 2600 of the abducted remain missing. And more than 150,000 Yazidis still residing in IDP camps face an uncertain future, as camps face defunding and closure.

(more…)

Continue Reading Marking the 10th Anniversary of the Yazidi Genocide