Greg Marcar is the senior researcher at the Nathaniel Centre for Bioethics—Te Kupenga (New Zealand). This post is a part of our series on Magnifica Humanitas. Introduction: On “Builders of Communion” On 25 May 2026, Pope Leo…
Brett G. Scharffs is director of the International Center for Law and Religion Studies and Rex E. Lee Chair and Professor of Law at the J. Reuben Clark Law School, Brigham Young University. The following is a lightly edited version of his remarks given during a panel discussion on Human Rights Council Resolution 55/17, Human Rights and a Culture of Peace, during the 61st Session of the UN Human Rights Council, 4 March 2026, at the Assembly Hall, Palais de Nations, Geneva, Switzerland.
I would like to join others in thanking the High Commissioner for Human Rights for organizing this panel discussion on Human Rights Council Resolution 55/17, Human Rights and a Culture of Peace, adopted two years ago, on 4 April 2024.
Dr. Francis Kuria is secretary general of Religions for Peace International and its African affiliate, the African Council of Religious Leaders-Religions for Peace. He also serves as administrative chair of the international steering group of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons. This post is based on his keynote address at the ICLRS 32nd International Law and Religion Symposium, 6 October 2025.
Introduction
Now more than ever, we are confronted with internal divisions and heightened tensions, calling for a timely and necessary conversation on the protection of religious freedom. The tragic attack on 28 September on The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Grand Blanc, Michigan, serves as a devastating reminder of the urgent need to persist in promoting religious freedom for all—a responsibility that we must not only address in theory but that requires our collective action on community, judicial, and legislative fronts.