Religious Liberty Summit

Introduction:

The Notre Dame Religious Liberty Summit is an annual gathering of the foremost thought leaders on religious liberty. The summit stimulates and engages conversations between scholars, advocates, and religious leaders about the future of religious liberty worldwide. On June 28-29, 2021, the inaugural Religious Liberty Summit was held at the University of Notre Dame in Notre Dame, Indiana. Subsequent summits will be held in Rome in 2022 and Jerusalem in 2023. The interfaith community prayer services made up of different congregations and sects, gave the opening remarks at the conference. Throughout the three-day discussion, there were different summits on various religious liberty topics, including polarization of religious liberty, a keynote from different panelists, international threats to religious liberty, and the book discussion on The Politics of Vulnerability. Each year during the summit, an individual is honored with the Notre Dame Prize for Religious Liberty for their achievement in preserving religious liberty.

Summary Reports

Polarization of Religious Liberty

Q&A Session

• John Inazu highlighted the importance of finding common ground and building relationships to overcome polarization in religious liberty issues.
• Reverend Marian Edmonds-Allen emphasized the significance of listening to diverse viewpoints and working together in interfaith communities to address common concerns.
• Justin Gibboney noted the challenges faced by black churches in engaging in discussions on religious liberty, emphasizing the need for education and advocacy to promote understanding and fairness.
• Asma Uddin discussed the misconceptions and challenges faced by Muslim communities, stressing the importance of education and mindfulness in fostering collaboration and addressing key issues.

In conclusion, the panelists underscored the importance of education, advocacy, and inclusivity in promoting broader aspects of religious freedom and finding unity amidst diverse beliefs and perspectives.

Religious Liberty and the Press

In discussing the role of individuals in the media, Ms. Gretchen Crowe emphasizes the importance of religious groups engaging with the press to ensure accurate representation of their perspectives, as she believes the media lacks an understanding of religious topics. Similarly, Ms. Emma Green stresses the necessity for religious entities to cooperate with journalists to prevent unreliable information dissemination. She highlights the media's responsibility in educating the public on religious matters. Ms. Elizabeth Dias underscores the significance of building relationships with reporters to ensure fair representation, striving for inclusivity across races in her reporting.

Regarding the practices of churches, Ms. Crowe mentions cases of child sexual abuse within the community. Ms. Green discusses the issue of terminology preferences, citing LDS members' requests to use their full names while acknowledging the challenge of aligning with journalistic standards. Mr. Eric Meripodie echoes the need for public education through reporting and acknowledges the tension between journalistic conventions and interviewee preferences. Ms. Dias expresses gratitude for the opportunity to share her work, emphasizing her dedication to accuracy in reporting and addressing societal challenges such as polarization.

Keynote

Introduction:

Keynote

1. People in America advocate religious freedom not because they are believers but because they are American. It is in the American Constitution and has always been a core value.
2. The defense of religious liberty is hardly some ultra-conservative issue but is historically considered part of the usually progressive movement. 
3. The reason people cherish freedom of religion is not to protect the government from religion but to maintain the free exercise of religion from the government.
4. There is a fear that the American culture may have moved from encouraging the freedom of consciousness to now an outright “antagonist” view on voices that are motivated by faith 

He added that religious liberty is one of the most fundamental human rights from the first four guaranteed rights listed in the First Amendment. Cardinal Dolan believes that the union of the Crown and the Cross, meaning a king with religion, is the best form of government. Thus, he favored the sublime mission as misters of the gospel in exercising legitimate power from the church to rule people.

Interfaith Dialogue

The introductory remarks featured insights from Elder Quentin L. Cook, Dr. Jackie Rivers, and a Rabbi, discussing various facets of religion's role in society. Elder Cook highlighted the connection between religious accountability and secular benefits, drawing on Alex de Tocqueville's views on religion's ability to inspire principles and foster adherence to laws in democratic states. Dr. Rivers explored the dual impact of religious freedom on black churches, citing John Locke's influence on constitutional law and how religion both burdened and benefited African Americans. The Rabbi emphasized the unifying power of faith amidst racial and regional divides, advocating for neighborly engagement based on shared principles rather than differences.

In the Q&A session, Cardinal Timothy Dolan addressed the decline in religiosity's impact on religious freedom, expressing concern over its marginalization in American life. Dr. Rivers further discussed the challenges posed by waning religious interest and its effects on legal and cultural spheres. Elder Cook stressed the importance of promoting civility and accountability amidst religious and secular tensions, while Rabbi Dr. Meir Soloveichik underscored the need for collaborative efforts among faith communities to address common challenges and strengthen religious liberty.

Panel 1

Religious freedom, deemed a fundamental human right by international treaties like the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, faces significant challenges worldwide. Ambassador Morse Tan highlighted how mass atrocities often target religious groups, with North Korea singled out as a particularly severe violator of religious liberty. Marcela Szymanski pointed out that both strong and weak states infringe upon religious freedom, with some Western countries also violating international treaties protecting this right. Anna Maria Celesbrunet identified various threats to religious liberty, including discrimination against religious and LGBT groups, emphasizing the importance of pluralism and education in promoting equality. Bishop Elias Zaidon described Lebanon as a consensual democracy striving to protect religious rights amidst challenges like government oppression and societal division.

During the Q&A session, Ambassador Morse Tan discussed China and North Korea's attempts to suppress criticism of their human rights abuses, highlighting the challenges faced by those who seek to expose violations. He noted that while North Korea lacks the resources to refute accusations like China does, both countries have faced international sanctions for their actions. In response to a question about promoting religious liberties, Marcela Szymanski emphasized the importance of unity and collaboration among those advocating for human rights. She stressed the need for legal professionals to work together to address violations and protect religious freedoms effectively.

Anna Maria Celesbrunet addressed the intersection of secularization and religious liberty in South America, acknowledging the persistence of religious beliefs despite challenges like church burnings. She emphasized that while some may perceive such acts as targeting religious institutions, they often stem from broader societal issues rather than direct attacks on religious liberty. In discussing the success of Lebanon's approach to religious freedom, Bishop Elias Zaidon highlighted the country's unique historical and political context. He pointed out that Lebanon's balance of power between religious groups, though imperfect, has contributed to relative tolerance compared to other parts of the Middle East.

Further questions delved into the specific dynamics of religious liberty promotion and challenges in different regions. One attendee asked about the potential for cultural norms versus legal frameworks to drive progress in protecting religious freedoms. Marcela Szymanski stressed the importance of legal mechanisms and international treaties but acknowledged the value of cultural norms in shaping societal attitudes towards religious liberty. Another question focused on the lack of success in replicating Lebanon's model of religious tolerance in other parts of the Middle East. Bishop Elias Zaidon attributed this disparity to factors such as demographic imbalances and governance issues, which hinder efforts to establish similar systems of coexistence and protection of religious rights in other contexts.

Panel 2

Introduction:  International Threats to Religious Liberty

Remarks

Nathaniel Hurd

He began by pointing out that there have always been claims within the public policy departments between the promotion of religious freedom and the separation of the United States in religions internationally. What the United States has done in the U.S. commission of religion is the grounded of religious freedom how he understands in the U.S. through the Declaration of Independence. He emphasized that the alienation right from the Declaration of Independence from the Constitution not only advocates for this right in the U.S. but also everywhere in the world to fight for religious freedom in advancing the effects and life-changing in the world. He raised a point of religious freedom in the United States that has faded in a way of the American’s perception of religion itself. He claimed that the most important key issues with American belief are the existence of the family, male and female sexual orientation, and the religious violence and separation within the community that shifted their attention away from preserving and practicing religious freedom. He added that religious freedom should be privatized particularly when it has been claimed with the conflicts of interest with others in the society.

Kelsey Zorzi

She stated that the majority of American citizens did not think of the problem of religious freedom as something that they should take care of because they believe that it is not a big deal and everyone adheres to the standard which is set by the government. She claimed that religious freedom does play a significant role in human society and it is not easy to advocate especially within the area of the international stage like the United Nations. She found that the right has been presented in the UN assembly have various interests between the EU, OIC (Organization of Islamic Cooperation), and the UN committee. The EU’s draft resolution focuses merely on the individual right and the right to choose to believe and not to believe, while the OIC focus on religious freedom from defamation (i.e. the problem of the Islamic being persecuted and condemned by state’s actors). She also raised the question of whether religious freedom is meant to protect actors or the religion itself. She had two concerns within the work that she is advocating are the advocacy of religious violence and religious persecution rather than the debate whether or not for the United States to abolish the death penalty. Another vital concern indicated that religion can harm another human’s rights including reproductive rights, freedom of speech, right to practice religion within a community thus there should be more robust advocacy on those concerns instead.

Stephen Rasche

His main topic is the statistic of religious liberty in the middle east, specifically in Iraq where Islam is the state religion. He emphasized that the western nations have been working to promote religious freedom in Iraq, but they do not understand the core value and needs of the Iraqi people so they did not only cause some destructions within the state but also caused the problem to even bigger. There should be more implications in political administrations in understanding the situations in Iraq because there are always human beings involved. He focused on one main issue within the Iraqi society these days that the Iraqi are willing to listen to the people from the first world Economic, all they want is food, security, housing education that help them, the victim of the genocide from being executed from the extremist Islam. They do not want to make peace between other groups nor talk about peace-building and interfaith dialogue.

Fr. Dcn. Andrew Bennet

The main point that he raised was primary on the privatization from the state (Canada) to religious groups, which ban all of the religious groups to practice their faiths including wearing attires related to the public space. He claimed that this is the failure of understanding that people cannot just privatize their faiths that religion is fundamentally the public space where people can, not only worship, but also express their conscience and the practice of their faiths, set up a constitution, and assemble. At the same time, people are also having amnesia to their faiths which gives perspectives to people that the practice of faiths and religion is not to be done in the public. Finally, the last point he mentioned is the constitution that has reasonable limits on religious freedom as an example of the U.S that has been working on this area robustly.

Q&A

Q: Is there a difference between the current administration and the former administration in the way that they are interacting with the UN on some religious liberty that was discussed? 

Kelsey Zorzi

She said that it is a bit early to tell because the former of the UN committee has resigned and there was no replacement since, thus it is a bit early to identify the difference between the current and the previous administration.

Nathaniel Hurd

He claimed that there has been a big gap between the administration of the republican and the democrat when the ambassador at large for religious freedom shows that the Democrat was at worst in opposing the interest of who to be in charge.

Q: How do we as the advocator and an inherent definition to religious freedom to impart in another place without being interfered with their sovereignties? 

All panelists

All of the panelists have the same opinions on how to deal with this issues by pointing out that there had been ratifications among other states in terms of the acceptance of religious freedom and there have also been eroded in some ways but the trajectory does not look as good as it could even though we lay our foundations as of from the UN declarations. Another thing was that; we the people, should remind ourselves about what we have done in the past before we can advocate the issues of others. We also should look at the word “Humility” because we do not understand entirely the truth and look at these situations honestly because the lack of humility is something that they should look at.