News Release

Durban Conference Focuses on Law and Religious Communities in Africa

Facilitating Freedom of Religion and Belief for a United and Strong Africa

A three -day Special Conference of the African Consortium for Law and Religion Studies (ACLARS), was held from January 19 – 22, 2020 in Durban, South Africa. The conference organized in conjunction with the International Center for Law and Religion Studies (ICLRS) of the Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, United States of America; the South African Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities( CRL Rights Commission) and the West African Regional Consortium for Law and Religion Studies (WARCLARS), had as its theme: ‘’Law and Religious Communities in Africa: Facilitating Freedom of Religion and Belief for a United and Strong Africa’’.

 

The conference had in attendance over Eighty participants from Twenty countries in Africa, Europe and the United States. W. Cole Durham, Jr., Emeritus Professor and Founding Director, International Center for Law and Religion Studies, J. Reuben Clark Law School, Brigham Young University, United States, moderated the opening session. Luka David Mosoma, Chair, South African Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities, South Africa, while welcoming participants to Durban and South Africa, said he looked forward to the deliberations at the conference and urged speakers and discussants to focus on real issues that would help build a strong and united Africa.

The conference was organized into discussion panels and plenary sessions with different topics for deliberation. Speaking at the interfaith panel session with the topic: Religious Perspectives on the importance of the right to acquire legal personality, Brett G. Scharffs, Rex E. Lee Chair and Professor of Law, and Director, International Center for Law and Religion Studies, J. Reuben Clark Law School, Brigham Young University, United States, explained the background of the Punta Del Este declaration on Human dignity for everyone everywhere.  He said there is a link between human dignity and what the conference seeks to achieve. “Here in Durban over the next three days we meet to discuss what may appear to be the most mundane and unglamorous issues in the constellation of law and religious issues. We are meeting to discuss the right of religious groups to register, the right to entity status and religious association laws’’. Also speaking, Oba, Michael Odunayo Ajayi, Arowotawaya II, Elerinmo of Erinmo Ijesa, Nigeria, explained that the African traditional religions came first and that all other religions here in Africa were imported. As a King, he stated, he worships with all the religious faiths in his domain as “every religion belongs to the king’’.

Elder Joseph W. Sitati, General Authority Seventy, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Kenya, then spoke. He stated the Church’s position on interfaith relations by quoting the 11th article of faith of the Church: “We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may.“  He expressed confidence that the conference participants will freely share ideas that will protect the rights of religious organizations and allow them to form legal entities within the political framework of their host countries.

Other speakers and sessions focused on: Law and Religious Communities in Africa; Balancing Religious Freedom, Human Dignity and the Law: The South African Experience; Empirical Analysis of the importance of Religious Association Law; Human Rights Foundations of Religious Association Law; and Comparative Perspectives on Association Laws.

A prominent point of discussion at the conference was the issue of State regulation of religious bodies. Many speakers believed that religious bodies should be self-regulating and called on Governments not to interfere in religious practices. However, Government representatives at the discussion panels believed that a measure of regulation was necessary. They frowned at the situation where some religious leaders strip their congregants of their human dignity by ordering them to eat grass, drink petrol, spray insecticides on them, all in the name of worship. Government regulation of religious bodies according to them, will help to curb such abuses.

A major highlight of the conference was the field trip by the delegates to the open house of the new Durban Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They had the opportunity to tour the facility before it is dedicated and closed to the general public.

 The Annual Conference of ACLARS will hold from 17 - 20 May, 2020 in Nairobi, Kenya.

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